Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Akmal Saleh has demanded that Malaysiakini’s top leadership appear at the Umno General Assembly to personally apologise after the news portal posted a picture of pigs alongside a caption referring to Umno.
The controversial post, uploaded yesterday, carried the caption “2026 assembly will determine Umno’s direction in the unity government” but was mistakenly attached to an image meant for a story on pig farming in Selangor.
Akmal described the mistake as “hurtful, saddening and unacceptable”, saying a simple apology on social media was not enough.
“I demand that your boss come to the Umno General Assembly to apologise directly to the party president and all delegates,” he said.
Malaysiakini has since issued a full apology, calling the incident a “most regrettable error”, and confirmed that its editors will attend the assembly on Friday to apologise in person.
The portal said the mix-up was one of three social media posting errors made that day, involving incorrect combinations of text and images. All faulty posts have been removed and an internal review has been launched.
Malaysiakini executive editor RK Anand said the organisation was taking full responsibility for the mistake, and added that the portal had already contacted Akmal and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s office to apologise.
