THAT Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) and former UMNO vice-president/Semborong MP Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein have submitted their application to return to their roots could be tell-tale sign that the 16th General Election (GE16) “is around the corner”.
This somehow makes valid sense given the former UMNO Youth chief by so doing has ditched earlier plans to join Bersatu and PAS which have opened their arms widely to accept him soon after he was expelled by his party on Jan 27, 2023 notably for criticising no contests for UMNO’s top two posts following the party’s poor performance in GE15.
“Anwar (Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) has asked the PH (Pakatan Harapan) machinery to gear up for GE … KJ and Hishammuddin have already submitted appeal letters to Zahid to reinstate or cancel their suspension as UMNO members,” penned fellow UMNO ‘renegade’ Isham Jalil in a Facebook post.
This means the GE is getting closer. PN (Perikatan Nasional) and the opposition need to be ready. We must change the PH/UMDAP (slang to mock UMNO for abandoning its principes by working with DAP) government that is causing harm to the people.
If UMNO goes solo and contests 115 seats, they will split the Malay vote, hence the winners will be Anwar, PH and DAP. If PH wins, they (UMNO) will once again support Anwar and DAP.
To re-cap, UMNO president Datuk Serti Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has admitted to receiving a letter of appeal from KJ to re-join the party two days ago (March 15).
“God willing, I’ve personally received this application which will be extended to the Rumah Bangsa Unification Committee chaired by Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin (UMNO vice-president) to be deliberated and approved accordingly,” he shared in a FB post.
Zahid who is also Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) further hailed the gesture as in line with the spirit of Rumah Bangsa to re-discover those who were separated and bring together those who were once distant and re-unite them in one big family of struggle.
In reciprocating the goodwill gesture of the Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, a poetical KJ contended that he has “no condition, personal wishes or requests attached in returning to the mothership of the nation”.
“Suffice is that I’m given the opportunity to become an ordinary crew member,” he philosophised in a FB post.
“What’s important is that the mothership of this nation continues to sail through the waves and storms at all times, carrying with it great hope: the unification of a nation that is united, strong and dignified. God willing, I’m coming home.”
At a glance, fans welcomed KJ back to UMNO with some describing his ‘home-coming’ as “the prodigal son returns 🤪” while hailing him as “the next UMNO president” and even “the most potential future PM”.
However, detractors reckoned that KJ’s return to UMNO is “more towards fulfilling his lust for power” than to strive for the unification of Malays, majority of whom are now slanted towards the opposition front.
Moreover, even if UMNO were too contest on its own in GE16, its role is none other than to split Malay votes after which it can choose to once again reconcile with PH/DAP in the event its strategy backfires.
Read in between the lines, perhaps not all UMNO grassroot members welcome KJ back as evident in some who somehow expressed dismay that KJ’s return to his “old habitat would potentially ruin efforts to unify UMNO by encouraging incitement and disunity” in the party. – March 17, 2026
