Another media misstep has drawn criticism from UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh, following a headline error by a local newspaper regarding chants at the UMNO General Assembly (PAU) 2026.
In a now-deleted article, the newspaper claimed that the crowd chanted “Hidup Anwar” during the assembly. Akmal quickly refuted the claim in a social media post on Friday night (Jan 17), stressing that the chant was “Hidup UMNO”, not “Hidup Anwar”.
He warned the outlet to issue an apology, saying there were no such chants at the event, and criticised the publication for spreading what he described as untrue and defamatory content.
“If you want to sell news, sell something truthful, not something defamatory,” he wrote.
Shortly after, the newspaper released a formal apology on its social media platforms. It explained that an audio translation error caused the chant to be misheard as “Hidup Anwar”, with the incorrect subtitle reinforcing the mistake. The outlet added that the post with the inaccurate headline had been taken down.
In a subsequent Facebook post, Akmal acknowledged the apology but expressed his dissatisfaction, commenting: “Shame on you.”
