Afif Bahardin has a strong media presence despite not being the PKR Youth chief

The dependency graph displays the media exposure of PKR Youth chief Akmal Nasir and his former contender for the position, Dr Afif Bahardin.

In August 2018, Akmal started to become prominent in the media, where he was observed to come ‘head-to-head’ with Afif.

Last year, on August 3, Afif along with Muhammad Hilman Idham challenged Akmal Nasir and his running mate Raymond Ahuar for the PKR Youth chief and deputy positions respectively.

In November 2018, Akmal was elected as PKR Youth chief for the 2018-2021 term, replacing Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. However, the PKR Youth deputy chief position was taken by Hilman Idham.

Despite becoming the PKR Youth chief, Akmal has a lower media exposure compared to Afif in 2019 (as of 19 August 2019). In fact, Akmal has lesser presence in the media in 2019 compared to 2018.

Interestingly, in June 2019, Akmal came head-to-head with Afif in terms of media exposure.

Then, Afif headlined on PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali’s alleged sex scandal, the issue of fish shortage, DoctorOnCall app amongst others.

Meanwhile, Akmal is also the member of parliament for Johor Bahru. He found himself in hot water with the Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim after the latter issued a royal rebuke against him for being a part of a breaking fast event at a gurdwara.

Apart from that, Akmal also argued with UMNO leaders. This is because he called out UMNO to return the RM212 million that the party received from the allegedly stolen funds from 1MDB, through former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

However, the PKR Youth chief continues to have a low media presence after June 2019.