KJ, Shahril fire back at Hannah in ‘tai chi’ tiff

 

Former Umno leaders Khairy Jamaluddin (left) and Shahril Hamdan also took issue with youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh dragging a sponsor of their podcast into the argument.

PETALING JAYA: 

Former Umno leaders Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan have fired back at youth and sports minister Hannah Yeoh in defending their call to her to not pass the buck over Malaysia’s Olympics performance.

In separate Instagram posts, the co-hosts of the Keluar Sekejap podcast said their comments about Yeoh were milder than remarks they had made about other figures.

They took issue with Yeoh saying it was 

distasteful

 of massage chair brand Gintell to sponsor their podcast and her claim that the pair had implied she should interfere in the Olympic Council of Malaysia’s (OCM) affairs, despite its autonomy.

“If you really have a problem with the relatively mild comments made about you (you should see what others say elsewhere), maybe respond substantively to those comments.

Unlike some, we take ownership for what we say and don’t ‘tai chi’ (slang for passing the buck) or drag in other parties,

 said Shahril, a former Umno information chief.

Similarly, Khairy said Yeoh should have simply responded to him and Shahril over their comments, rather than dragging Gintell into the matter.

Don’t be so petty and thin-skinned. We call out Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim regularly, but he remains calm and steady,

 said the former youth and sports minister.

The tiff between them started with Khairy saying Yeoh should be more proactive and dare to take on prominent figures in national sporting associations instead of acting like a 

tai chi minister

.

The former Umno Youth chief said it was not enough for the youth and sports minister to say the OCM council was elected by its own members, which he described as essentially passing the buck.

He cited a Facebook post by Yeoh where she said one of her goals as minister was to place the right people in the right positions, but that she did not have the authority to remove those holding posts elected by others.

In response to Khairy’s comments, the minister had said she could not interfere with the OCM’s leadership as it had complete independence and autonomy to develop, promote and protect Malaysia’s 

Olympic movement

.

Yeoh maintained that not interfering with the OCM was not passing the buck but good governance. - FMT