January 19, 2026
KUALA LUMPUR – WHAT does a paku (nail) have to do with the political fortunes of Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh?
Earlier this week, I had coffee in Kuala Lumpur with Ilham Centre executive director Hisomuddin Bakar. We discussed the shifting political landscape, touching on Dr Akmal, Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ), and former deputy prime minister Tun Musa Hitam, as well as the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s investigation into a former minister and the 2025 Sabah elections.
“Akmal will not quit as Umno Youth chief because the position is like a nail,” said the pollster with the independent research firm.
“A veteran Umno politician once told me that a position in a party is like a nail – it nails a politician to a position of power. Whatever the political situation, the politician should hold onto that nail.”
Allow me to extend this Nail Theory.
In high-stakes politics, power is often a fluid, shifting thing. The Nail Theory suggests a more rigid reality: power is a structure, and a specific position within a political party is a nail driven into that structure. This nail anchors a politician, keeping them relevant. Without a nail, a politician is just a voice in the wilderness; with it, they are an institutional fixture that cannot be easily displaced.
Dr Akmal is a perfect example.
On Saturday, during a high-octane keynote address at the Umno Youth General Assembly, he announced his resignation from the Melaka exco so he can “fight DAP to the end”.
While an exco position is a prestigious title, for Dr Akmal, it had become a “weak nail”. It provided visibility but came with the heavy burden of collective responsibility. As an exco member in the Melaka unity government led by Umno, he was bolted to a government that included DAP, his primary political target. This nail was actually a shackle; it prevented him from attacking federal policies or DAP without violating executive protocol.
By pulling out the exco nail, Dr Akmal freed himself. He realised that his true “power nail” is the Umno youth chief position – a structural anchor that grants him a license to be loud.
This strategy echoes Musa’s legendary manoeuvre. In 1986, when he famously broke ranks with then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, he resigned as deputy prime minister but crucially stayed on as Umno deputy president.
Musa understood then what Dr Akmal understands now: A government position is merely architectural cladding – decorative and easily stripped away. But a party position is a master nail.
Dr Akmal has sacrificed a state-level government seat to ensure his party’s nail is driven deeper into the hearts of the grassroots nationwide.
He uses the youth chief role to stay nailed to the headlines, making himself too controversial to ignore and too well-supported to fire. As long as he holds this nail, the party leadership cannot easily silence him because he represents an entire wing of the party.
The importance of this anchor becomes even more evident when we look at KJ. For over a decade, KJ’s nail was the same one Akmal holds now. As Umno youth chief from 2009 to 2018, he was the “tall nail” – highly visible, structurally essential, and a bridge to the younger generation. (For some women, and even some men, “tall nail” meant “tall, dark, and handsome” back then.)
However, in January 2023, the Umno leadership used a crowbar to remove him, sacking him from the party. For three years, KJ has existed in the political wilderness, widely popular on podcasts like Keluar Sekejap, yet legally and institutionally powerless because he lacked a structural nail in any party.
The power of the Nail Theory was on full display this month at the Umno Youth General Assembly. After years in the wilderness, KJ reappeared at the assembly, invited by Dr Akmal.
Dressed in a white baju Melayu, he was greeted with the drums and silat performances usually reserved for those in power. This contrast illustrates the theory’s core truth: Despite his immense popularity and intellectual brand, KJ proved that without a nail in a party, you are a spectator. His appearance at the 2026 assembly was recognition that to affect change, he needs to be renailed into the party structure.
The Nail Theory reminds us that in politics, popularity is mere vapour but a party position is a solid anchor. Dr Akmal resigned from the state government because he knew that being a small nail in the exco is worthless compared with being the main nail of the party’s youth wing.
KJ’s long road back to an Umno general assembly shows that even the most talented politician eventually becomes irrelevant if he cannot find somewhere in the halls of power to drive his nail in. In the end, it isn’t about how many people like you; it’s about which part of the power structure you are bolted to.
The current political fortunes of Dr Akmal and Khairy are a tale of two paku.