The Penang State Prosecution Director has rejected a representation submitted by the legal team of Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh in December 2025 seeking to have the charge against him dropped.
His lead counsel, Aizat Azam, said the defence applied to the Bukit Mertajam Magistrates’ Court on Monday to submit a second representation to the Attorney General, presenting facts, views and legal arguments in support of its case.
He said the first representation was submitted about 10 months ago, with the rejection communicated during Monday’s case mention.
“We have applied to the court to submit a second representation to the Attorney General to present the facts, views and legal opinions concerning this case,” Aizat said.
“God willing, we will submit the representation to the Attorney General next.”
According to Aizat, the case has been ongoing for more than a year, but no trial date has been fixed as the defence awaits decisions on its representations.
He said the legal team was waiting for the Attorney General to decide whether the case should proceed to trial.
In August last year, Muhamad Akmal, 38, pleaded not guilty at the same court to a charge of making a statement that allegedly caused public alarm.
According to the charge, he allegedly made the statement on his Facebook account, Akmal Saleh, at 3pm on August 11, 2025.
The statement was alleged to have caused public alarm that could induce members of the public to commit offences against public order. He was charged under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code.
The court previously granted him bail of RM5,000 with one surety.
Defence Also Seeks Judicial Review
Aizat said the legal team had also filed an application for judicial review against the Attorney General concerning the latter’s authority to prosecute his client.
The judicial review remains at the case management stage.
He said the defence would attend an online case management session at the Penang High Court on Tuesday and inform the court that it required another date while awaiting the outcome of the second representation.
The court has fixed January 4 next year for the decision on the second representation.
The prosecution is led by Penang State Prosecution Director Muna Mohamed Jaafar, while Muhamad Akmal is represented by a team of 10 lawyers.
Muhamad Akmal arrived at the Bukit Mertajam court complex at about 9am on Monday, accompanied by his wife, Datin Dr Fatin Nadhirah Idrus, and several Penang UMNO Youth members, including its chief, Mohd Hilmi Elias.
Separately, Muhamad Akmal previously led about 500 supporters from UMNO, Bersatu and PAS in a 1.4km march in Bertam, Kepala Batas, to show respect for the Malaysian flag following an incident in which the national flag was displayed upside down at a hardware shop.
Following the incident, he was called to give a statement at the Dang Wangi District Police Headquarters on Saturday in connection with the gathering.
