A SOCIAL media post by former prime minister (PM) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob hanging out and dining over dinner with former health minister during his administration Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) at Restoran Kuning Ikan Bakar in Jalan Alor on Saturday night (May 27) has set tongues wagging if the duo would be reconciling under a new party.
“Happy establishing a new party together. A very good hint indeed,” teased netizen 𝔗𝔥𝔢 (@Xzib8t) while Tijah Gib (@GibTijah) wondered if the Bera MP has any plan to make a comeback as a premier.
“When do you plan to set up a MARA-version digital mall in Jalan Alor?” quipped Real_Onn (@Cheng85900609).
For now, the former UMNO Youth chief who has been sacked by his party in late January is linked with Bersatu whose president and Ismail Sabri’s predecessor Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has offered him a “high post”.
While Khairy has yet to decide on his next political move, the former Rembau MP had admitted owing it to Ismail Sabri for ‘promoting’ him to the post of health minister where he was entrusted to bring Malaysia “out of the lockdown doldrums” at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“And I had to make a lot of decisions regarding standard operating procedures (SOP), quarantine, vaccines and other conditions,” recalled Khairy who lost in the recent 15th General Election (GE15) after being ‘parachuted’ to the Sungai Buloh parliamentary constituency from his Rembau stronghold.
Ismail Sabri has in recent times deemed to have become a controversial UMNO figure following his remarks that “forced marriages” will not work if there is no mutual love between top leadership or at a grassroots level – a criticism aimed at the unity government spearheaded by Pakatan Harapan (PH)-UMNO alliance.
The UMNO poster boy and PM candidate that never be went on to divulge that cracks are showing in the “forced marriage” of the ruling parties as they are openly attacking each other in the public domain.
“It is true that we were attacked by our own party when we were in the Cabinet. Whatever we did, we did the best for the country… get out of the pandemic (and) restore the economy. You can be proud of that (success),” Khairy had said in response to a video uploaded by Ismail Sabri who did not defend his UMNO vice presidency in the recent party election.
In the one-minute 40-second video, Ismail Sabri expressed his disappointment and explained that he had been pressured by UMNO. He also explained that there were reports that made inaccurate statements about his previous media interview.
“I was the PM of UMNO. To strengthen UMNO at that time; out of 29 Cabinet ministers, 14 of them were Barisan Nasional (BN) ministers even though we only had 42 Parliament seats. But at that time, I was pressured by my own party leaders as if I was not the PM from UMNO. UMNO seemed to be the opposition at that time,” he added. – May 29, 2023
