Time For Khairy Jamaluddin To Go

By Syed Akbar Ali

The most unforgettable thing that I can remember about the last UMNO Youth elections where Khairy Jamaludin was elected its Ketua was the sight of his supporters jumping up and down childishly like monkeys who had just been fed bananas. (Indeed they had just been fed.)

Each of them had this schoolboy type backpack on his back which made them look even more childish and juvenile when they cheered and jumped up and down after their benefactor had been voted in.

There were serious allegations of money politics in the UMNO Youth elections and it is now an established fact that the party actually found Khairy Jamaluddin dabbling in money politics. And they still let him stand for elections (where his win was quite predictable, considering all the hungry monkeys that were jumping around - looking for bananas).

What is even more mind boggling is why a young person who is allegedly intelligent and Oxford educated would need to dabble in money politics to move forward?

I was equally perplexed that the young man stood for a Parliamentary seat in the rural seat of Rembau. One would have assumed that with his credentials and what not, an urban and 'educated' seat like Lembah Pantai or the Bukit Damansara type area would be more appropriate for an up and coming Oxford educated 'very intelligent' person. Yet he chose Rembau which were quite easy pickings.

Helping him in the process was another well fed person in the form of the MB who was and still is a close supporter. It was a perfect case of you scratch my back, I will scratch yours.

Without a doubt Khairy Jamaluddin is turning out to be the most unpopular UMNO Youth Chief ever. There is this most hilarious poll being run by the Blog Apanama asking when Khairy Jamaluddin should quit. You can see the poll here. It is hilarious because of the way the suggested answers to the poll have been framed. Here it is :

BILA KHAIRY JAMALUDDIN HARUS LETAK JAWATAN?

Semalam 173 votes 64%

Hari ini 71 votes 26%

Esok 7 votes 2%

Pemilihan UMNO akan datang 16 votes 5%

I have never seen a poll where 'semalam' was a suggested answer to when someone should have quit. And it has obtained the highest votes too, 173 votes or 64% of the total.

True that this is just a Blog poll with 267 votes but the Merdeka Center recently made newspaper headlines with their poll on the PM's popularity after having polled only about 1000 people. Maybe more than a 1000 people will take the poll at Apanama - it will run for 45 more days. What does the poll mean? I think it is time for Khairy Jamaluddin to go.

Khairy has made some tremendous mistakes. Perhaps he has also been born with some peculiarities which are a serious impediment to him being a politician who can be trusted by folks. (That does not mean however that he cannot be Malaysia's Best Investment Banker - as once put out by one media chief, despite the fact that Khairy is not an investment banker, never has been and does not appear like he ever will be either).

Among his mistakes are accumulating the sort of people who have become closely associated with him. Too many of them have rather unsavoury characteristics themselves. The media chief mentioned earlier is a prime example of the corrupt and traitorous types who can be found in this country. Another was a used car salesman with a fake university degree turned Mat Rempit boss.

Then there were the fellow Oxford and Cambridge educated guys who were too juvenile to begin with - they had no experience in anything and worse they had no ideas about anything either. Stories abound about how in the early days of the regime, these juveniles were amused with having coffee and sandwiches "on the 4th Floor" while pondering important Government files and documents.

There are a few more, including quite a few who hail from Penang. The rural constituency of Rembau does not seem to provide such company. These unsavoury types and juveniles have all come to be associated with Khairy Jamaluddin. Khairy needs to read the book 'How To Commit Political Suicide'. Available in the nearest mirror.

Then of course there is his non performance. Khairy Jamaluddin is not associated with any achievement, major or minor, as the UMNO Youth head or in the six years when his father in law was the PM.

The Blog Marahku has a running challenge : just show me one good achievement of Khairy Jamaluddin? A rather simple question which unsurprisingly no one has been able to answer, including a Cyber outfit that is believed to be prowling around trying to boost their benefactor's image. They are not able to string a coherent sentence in the English language and revert to rude and crude language instead. I would let their comments through but the incoherence coupled with their personal type attacks will only disturb the 'wa' (harmony) of this space. It does not reflect well on their benefactor as well.

There is also an overhanging complaint that Khairy has not even been able to "unite" UMNO Youth, reorganise them and move them forward. Gone are the days when UMNO Youth was an effective pressure group that was in touch with the needs and aspirations of the Malays and the party members.

UMNO Youth is now almost completely severed from the aspirations of the Malays. And even Youth members have serious doubts about where exactly UMNO Youth is headed. Of course among its leadership are those who are just there for the "easy picking" bananas. That too appears to be drying up.

The fate of Khairy Jamaluddin is typical of all politics - especially Malay politics. He rode in on his father in law's pampers who also turned out to be so unpopular until he was kicked out of office. Without a godfather, his lack of sustaining power is showing itself. What makes it worse for him is his non achievement plus his association with the unsavoury types.

My advice : It is better to cut losses, save the bananas, invest in Swan River properties, forget about a career in investment banking and leave before the welcome freezes over completely. And get a new dress.

courtesy of OutSyed The Box