HIMSELF BEHAVING LIKE AN ANTI-CHINESE WARLORD, TWO-FACED KHAIRY JUMPS ON GUAN ENG IN PERCEIVED BID TO PROVE HIS MALAY-NESS TO UMNO MEMBERS, EVEN AS HE PREACHES FOR AN END TO ‘WARLORD’ CULTURE AT PARTY POLLS

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng’s defence of issuing official statements in Mandarin as well is unacceptable, said Umno presidential candidate Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said Lim was attempting to set a new government practice on language use and accused the DAP leader of preventing the promotion of Bahasa Malaysia as the national language.\“Even if the statement was meant for an international audience, why couldn’t it be in English?… There is no concrete reason to use Mandarin.

“My concern is this act will continue to fan the flames of anger among the majority who are feeling increasingly threatened in recent weeks,” he added in a Facebook posting.

Meanwhile, former Johor Umno menteri besar Khaled Nordin described Lim’s action as insolent and insulting the status of Bahasa Malaysia.

Pointing out that it was not a personal or unofficial statement, he said the minister’s statement concerned official government matters and public interest.

The Umno vice-presidential candidate also recalled how Lim had responded by saying, “I am not Chinese, I am Malaysian” with regard to his appointment as finance minister.

Last Thursday, Lim held a press conference and issued a written statement containing policy updates regarding the Tun Razak Exchange project in three languages.

Following this, the Friends of BN Facebook page and other critics attacked Lim for issuing an official statement in Mandarin as well.

Yesterday, he attracted more critics when he explained the need for the tri-lingual statement in an all-Mandarin statement on his Facebook page.

Lim explained that providing a Mandarin translation for his statement does not mean that he was trying to lower the status of other languages. He also pointed out that Mandarin was protected under Article 152 (1) of the Federal Constitution.

His press conference on Thursday, prior to handing out the written statement, was conducted primarily in Bahasa Malaysia.

During his 10-year tenure as Penang chief minister, Lim had been issuing bi-lingual or tri-lingual statements on a regular basis.

Malaysiakini has contacted Lim for comment. – M’kini

Don’t let warlords think for you, Khairy tells party rank and file

UMNO is in a mess because of its culture of allowing warlords to dictate policies and important decisions in the party.

So, the time has come for the rank and file to break free from the shackles of warlords and decide for themselves the new leadership of Umno, said presidential candidate Khairy Jamaluddin.

The outgoing youth chief said he was confident this election would be different from previous party polls because of Umno’s situation, where it has lost federal power for the first time in sixty years.

“I am confident that the delegates at divisional levels have their own mind and will not necessarily follow orders, if there are any.

“My message to the delegates is to use their power as members and do their own thinking. Do not let others give instructions to them. Make your own decision when it’s time to choose leaders to lead the party,” Khairy told The Malaysian Insight at the Rembau division meeting in Senawang on Sunday.

The former youth and sports minister is among five candidates for the president’s post. He and two others – interim president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah – are front-runners for the post.

Voting for Umno’s top posts will be held on June 30.

Khairy, who was among the first to call for Umno’s revamp following its defeat in GE14, said it had long been the party culture for members to abide by what leaders in the hierarchy dictated.

“They see this as a reason for Umno being in its current situation. It is because Umno did not practice openness in listening to what the grassroots were trying to say.

“Before this, it was the norm in Umno to listen to the higher ups,” he said.

The 42-year-old also said he was breaking the party norm by going for the president’s post instead of a vice-president’s seat. Traditionally, the Youth chief will join the vice-presidents’ race.

Khairy had earlier offered himself for vice-president but sprung a last-minute surprise on the last day of nominations last Sunday, when he withdrew his earlier nomination form and submitted a new one for the president’s post instead.

He admitted that he was initially worried about going for the number one spot because his boss in the Rembau division, Mohamad Hasan, was contesting the deputy president’s post, and both men are from the same Umno division.

“But after meeting the delegates, they say that given the extraordinary situation (Umno is in), there cannot be room for these kinds of worries.

“This is the time we should make decisions based on the individual candidate’s capacity, not going by the divisions. The delegates have accepted this,” he said.

It will be the first time the party sees a leader below the age of 50 going for the top post.

It will also be the first time since 1987 that a contest for the top post is being held. Then, Razaleigh took on then Umno president Dr Mahathir Mahathir. Since then, the party has practised “no contests” for the number one and two posts in the name of stability and smooth leadership transition.

Asked if there were factions or “camps” in the election, Khairy said he was not aware of teams or lists of candidates to vote for distributed among delegates.

“I’ve been to three, four states. There were no lists or camps or anything else that was previously used to divide the party.

“This time there are none. We compete as one spirit, as a family and as gentlemen. If I lose, I will remain loyal and will not jump ship,” he said.

– https://www.themalaysianinsight.com