KHAIRY: IT WASN’T AN EASY DECISION TO MAKE

My candidacy offers members more choices, says Youth chief

UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin is going for broke contesting the Umno presidency.

He posted his nomination forms for the party’s presidency on Instagram yesterday along with the Malay proverb, Alang-alang menyeluk pekasam, biar sampai ke pangkal lengan (If you are going to do something, you might as well go all the way).

Khairy, 42, will be up against party veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who is nearly twice his age, and 65-year-old vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Khairy, who is Rembau member of parliament, had indicated that he would contest the vicepresident’s post.

Tengku Razaleigh, who is Gua Musang member of parliament, confirmed that he was throwing his hat into the ring during a press conference at his home here on Saturday.

This is not the first foray for Razaleigh as he also took on then Umno president Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1987 and lost by a mere 43 votes.

It will be Zahid’s first bid for the No. 1 post.

In a Facebook posting, Khairy said his bid for the top post offered Umno members more choices.

The former youth and sports minister outlined the reasons behind him joining the race for the top post after vying only for the vice-president’s position initially.

“It wasn’t an easy decision to make and up until the last few days, I was going with my decision to stand only for the Umno vicepresident’s position.

“However, after thinking about Umno’s future and survival, I made the decision to contest the president’s post because I want the members to have a choice on where they wanted the party to head.”

Khairy said he wanted Umno to return to its original spirit, but with a new body.

“The spirit I mean is an inclusive Malay party, a party which is open to all levels of society and not just for the upper rung of society.

“This party should be for the man on the street, a party that takes care of them, a party that is not racist, not sexist and not deaf to the rakyat’s needs.

“It should be open to all other races and maybe one day, Barisan Nasional can be rebuilt into a large house for everyone.”

Khairy said he had met Razaleigh and Zahid to announce his candidacy and expressed his utmost respect for both.

He said Zahid was akin to an elder brother who always helped and advised him.

“Umno must return once again to the spirit of openness in every aspect — open to challenge, open to criticism, criticising leaders without the fear of getting the sack, open to receiving new members without any restrictions, open to delegates to determine who will lead the party and free from the warlords’ culture.

“Whatever the outcome, my undivided loyalty is to Umno and I will support whoever is elected as the president.”

The hashtag KJ4President has spread like wildfire on social media.

“#KJ4President Now that’s out of the box. Totally!” said former minister in the prime minister’s department Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan.

Many Twitter users expressed their support for Khairy.

“Go..!!! 3 corner fights u will get all the votes from younger generation. The old generation will split between Zahid n Ku Li,” said Safie Mohamed.

Another user Syahir said Khairy’s candidacy was “the best thing that could ever happen to Umno”.