I will appoint Ku Li as chief adviser if I win, says KJ

Khairy Jamaluddin says Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has valuable knowledge and experience as he is a contemporary to Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin says he has a long-term vision about where he will take the party if he wins the top post. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin says he will appoint party veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah as his chief adviser if he wins the presidency in the upcoming party polls.

In an interview with Sinar Harian, Khairy said being a contemporary to Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad made Tengku Razaleigh, also known as Ku Li, very important to Umno especially in the new political landscape created by the 14th general election.

“If I win, I’ll set up an advisory council and hope that he will agree to chair it. I’m very sure there is much need for his knowledge and experience,” he said.

Khairy also cast himself as the underdog in challenging Ku Li and Umno acting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the top post. He claimed this had caused some to speculate that he joined the contest as an exit strategy from the party.

“It’s true that it will be very difficult for me to win but I am a party man and I am loyal to Umno. If I lose, I will support whoever becomes the new president.”

Asked why Umno should choose him as president, Khairy said he had a long-term vision about where he wanted to take the party and he wanted to start right away.

“I don’t want to delay this any longer, I want to start working towards my vision now and I hope that the delegates will take into account that urgency.”

Asked whether he had any plans to eliminate corruption in Umno, he said he would involve the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in future party elections.

“It might be too late for this one but we could invite the MACC to monitor future party elections so that members are too afraid to do anything wrong.”

He said, however, that his first task as president would be to ensure that Umno went into the coming Dewan Rakyat looking like a formidable and confident opposition.

“The people want to see whether Umno has risen from defeat. I will set up a shadow cabinet – something that Pakatan Harapan was unable to do back when it was the opposition. That will make us look more organised and formidable.

“We don’t want to enter the Dewan Rakyat scratching our heads or asking all kinds of ridiculous questions because we don’t know what an opposition is supposed to do.”

Recently, Ku Li, in an interview with Astro Awani, challenged Zahid and Khairy to a debate. Khairy accepted.

The debate will be held at 9.30pm, June 29, over Astro Awani’s 501 channel.

Astro Awani said it is now awaiting a response from Zahid on whether he will also take part in the debate. - FMT