CARETAKER health minister Khairy Jamaludin might not have been well-advised as to how to pull a victory in the parliamentary constituency of Sungai Buloh.
It is common knowledge that he had no option but to shift from the constituency of Rembau in Negri Sembilan to Sungai Buloh in Selangor.
The MIC knowing that the party had no chance in Sungai Buloh was gracious enough to offer the constituency to Khairy.
There is a good chance that Khairy might win the 15th General Election (GE15). Nevertheless, winning the election might not be that easy for Khairy.
He had to come out with a strategy that will allow the people not just in Sungai Buloh but in the entire country to focus on him.
To do this, he had to announce that he was not only going to win in Sungai Buloh but intended to become the UMNO president someday as well as the prime minister (PM) in the near future.
Such a political strategy was meant to shine the limelight on him – how an underdog was forced by the UMNO court cluster to shift to the present new constituency and most importantly to turn around his present weakness in UMNO into an advantage.
Thus, his national posturing to be regarded as the future UMNO president and PM was basically to move beyond his present weakness in the party and to win the parliamentary constituency of Sungai Buloh.
Ridiculing UMNO president
Whether Khairy will eventually become the PM is left to be seen. But he wants to impress upon the voters primarily in Sungai Buloh that he is no pushover or weakling but a dissident and a maverick in the party.
He said that he wants to return UMNO to its past glory or in other words, cleanse the image of a party tainted with corruption and money laundering.
Khairy’s broadside was meant to ridicule UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who has been tainted by corruption charges.
It was Zahid who kept Khairy in the dark about whether or not he would be offered a seat to contest in the first place.
By focusing on being the next UMNO president and future PM, Khairy was indeed targeting his enemies in the party. His main rival is none other than Zahid himself.
Zahid responded by saying that Khairy should win Sungai Buloh first before making any wishful statements.
But unfortunately, the recently emerged Khairy – the radical or the maverick – has no record of being a dissident in the party.
He might have irritated the UMNO court cluster by associating closely with the non-performing caretaker PM Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
But beyond this, there is no credible evidence that he had the traits of becoming the country’s next PM.
Should oppose Zahid directly
He was no dissident in UMNO but for all intents and purposes, a person who went along with the decisions of the UMNO leadership. He was certainly not against the UMNO court cluster.
All the while, until the announcement of the dissolution of the Parliament, he played safe in the party and the government.
He might have been a better health minister in the government in comparison with his predecessor Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba. However, by the time Khairy took over the post, the COVID-19 pandemic was already in decline.
At least he refrained from suggesting that people drink warm water to get rid of COVID-19 infection. However, I don’t think that he was a spectacular heath minister.
The hard and strenuous work in the containment of the pandemic was left to the heroes in the civil service.
As I have commented earlier, it is nothing wrong to have political ambitions. Khairy has the right to be ambitious whether he wants to be the UMNO president or the PM of the country.
Chances are that he might win the parliamentary constituency of Sungai Buloh on his own merits. But there is no need to artificially project himself as the next PM.
He should have taken on Zahid on corruption and money laundering, but failed miserably. If Khairy wants to oust Zahid, then he should take him on directly.
Unfortunately, Khairy for all his recent bravado lacks the primary guts. There is no need to engage in indirect attacks. Khairy is no dissident nor maverick but an opportunist par excellence.
At the end of the day, the fact that he had lasted in UMNO for a long time speaks volumes about his conformist predispositions.
This is not to mention his distaste for human rights, ethnic and religious equality and a strong commitment to wiping out the scourge of corruption.
To date, despite the various allegations of corruption against him, Khairy has not bothered to explain or refute them. Future PM aspirants must be seen to be clean.
Is Khairy clean? – Nov 14, 2022
Prof Ramasamy Palanisamy is the state assemblyperson for Perai. He is also deputy chief minister II of Penang.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
