DESPITE them and the party losing during yesterday’s (Nov 19) polls, two of UMNO’s more progressive leaders Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan are not throwing in the towel just yet.
In a heartfelt Instagram post today, Khairy, who is the caretaker health minister, said one of the most harrowing things about being a politician is being publicly validated every five years.
“Elections are a basis for any functioning democracy but it is also something that tells the politician if they are good enough or otherwise. If people like you enough or not.
“Those are the rules and you have to accept (them) when people don’t think you’re good enough to represent them,” he said.
Khairy, who lost in Sungai Buloh by 2,693 votes, added that despite trying his best, he was just “not good enough”.
“A loss is a loss, no matter how close you came or how many people express disappointment at your loss.”
But while Khairy said he was “quite certain” it wasn’t the end of the road for him, he wants to reflect on this before thinking about what to do next.
“The truth is, I’m exhausted,” he said. “I haven’t really had time to rest since I was asked to manage the (COVID-19) pandemic.
“It’s been a tough two years for me steering the country out of COVID-19. But it was a great privilege to serve the nation at such a critical time and I’m glad we have recovered better than many other countries.”
Khairy said there remains tremendous uncertainty in the country and expressed hope that those who have been elected act with wisdom and compassion.
“The country needs stability and leadership more than ever,” he said. “I wish you all the very best.”
Shahril, on the other hand, announced on Facebook that he was resigning as UMNO information chief in the spirit of collective responsibility for UMNO and Barisan Nasional’s (BN) disastrous performance in the 15th General Elections (GE15).
Collectively, BN only managed to wrest 30 federal seats in GE15, far fewer than what Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Pakatan Harapan (PH) garnered (73 and 82 seats, respectively).
Among Malay and Muslim parties, UMNO got the lowest number of seats – 26 compared to Bersatu’s 28 and PAS’ 44. Shahril himself lost the Alor Gajah seat by a slim 890 votes.
Shahril also echoed Johor Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi’s call for BN chairman-cum-UMNO president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to accept responsibility for BN’s GE15 loss and step down.
“True, there is a collective responsibility in a failure. True, UMNO must consider the next steps in the situation that no one gets 112 seats in GE15. True, this is a big decision and needs to be decided by (UMNO’s) Supreme Council, not by any individuals or groups.
“But before the party wants to discuss or make any decision, there is one matter that needs to be carried out first (Zahid’s resignation)”.
Shahril, who used to work for Khairy and ended up starting The Centre think tank with him, added that like many others, he remains loyal to UMNO and the party’s struggles are far from over.
“This is not the end,” he said. – Nov 20, 2022
Main photo credit: Khairy Jamaluddin’s Instagram
