KUALA LUMPUR – After presiding over Umno’s worst electoral outing in history, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi should have, at the very least, allowed the top post to be contested, said Khairy Jamaluddin.
Now without a party after being sacked from Umno on Friday, Khairy dismissed suggestions that he played his cards wrong by pitting himself against Zahid, maintaining that his only intention was to push for an election for the president’s post following the party’s 15th general election (GE15) disastrous performance.
Speaking in a radio interview this morning, he said that past party presidents had relinquished their positions after Umno performed poorly in the federal polls, citing his father-in-law Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as one example following the 2004 general election.
“My point is very simple: if ‘Pak Lah’ was asked to step down as the president after we lost our two-third majority in Parliament, if Najib was asked to step down after the 2018 election, the very least you could have done, if you didn’t want to step down, is open up the party election for an open contest,” Khairy told BFM Radio.
Khairy was asked if he had miscalculated his moves when he took a gamble by going against Zahid in recent months, resulting in his eventual expulsion from the party.
Abdullah had resigned as Umno president after mounting pressure against him following a dismal performance in GE12 that saw Barisan Nasional losing its two-third grip on Parliament.
Abdullah was also said to be the person responsible for Khairy’s rise in politics, appointing him as the deputy principal private secretary to the prime minister and allegedly according him great influence as part of the “fourth-floor boys” in reference to the latter’s office at the Prime Minister’s Office building in Putrajaya.
Abdullah’s successor, Datuk Seri Najib Razak, similarly stepped down from the top post after Umno-led BN lost federal power the first time in the country's history in GE14.
However, it was under Zahid that Umno saw its worst electoral outing, with the party only securing a measly 26 seats in the 2022 election, with other BN components winning four seats.
Khairy said that in view of this, it would have been natural to allow a contest for the top positions within Umno to allow those with better ideas to restore the party’s fortunes.
He also described the justification behind his sacking from Umno – that he had influenced votes and cost the party by saying it had lost its way during the GE15 campaigning – as unfair.
“I’m trying to say there are better days ahead for Umno, that I represent the new generation that wants to revive and reform Umno.
“I don’t see how positive understanding and wanting to restore Umno’s credibility is something negative.
“My point was not to go against the party or its membership, but against the leadership.
“Certainly it was not meant to run the party down in the election, but more about giving hope to those who have lost trust in Umno.”
Khairy also maintained that the disciplinary action taken against him and several others did not follow due process.
Among others, he noted how he was only informed of his sacking through social media, and that he was not issued any show cause letter or given any opportunity to defend himself with the disciplinary board.
Besides Khairy, another high-profile name to be expelled from Umno was former Selangor chief Tan Sri Noh Omar. Sembrong MP Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein was given a six-year suspension.
Khairy, who was former Umno Youth chief, said he believes Hishammuddin would have also been sacked if he was not an MP, claiming Zahid needed him to maintain stability for the unity government that Umno is part of and in which Zahid is deputy prime minister. – The Vibes, January 30, 2023
