KJ leaves it to colleagues to pick opposition leader

BN's Rembau parliamentarian Khairy Jamaluddin said today he leaves it to his colleagues to decide who they want to choose as the new opposition leader.

He said this in response to the proposal brought by the newly minted Umno Youth chief, Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki, to name him as the opposition leader after the Parliament sitting commences on July 16.

However, Khairy said he has no intention to take any position for the time being and that he wanted a short break.

"Fact is, I don't want to hold any post for the time being. But, it is up to the opposition MPs to decide," said the former youth and sports minister.

"The opposition leader's post must be decided by the opposition leaders and they have yet to meet (on this matter)," Khairy told a press conference after he handed over his ministerial duty to his successor Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman today.

Syed Saddiq and his deputy Steven Sim also attended the press conference.

Khairy had previously turned down the offer from Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to take over as the party's secretary-general.

Umno's leadership elections last Saturday sent a huge signal for Zahid to reform the party, he said.

"If he fails to bring the change, then those who want (changes in party) will be disappointed," he added.

"It (the election results) showed that majority of the members want changes," Khairy said, referring to the popular votes both Umno presidential candidate Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah and he had garnered.

"I hope we'll all give our support to the president to bring the change. In politics, you must accept the results and support whoever is democratically elected," he said.

Zahid won the support of 99 divisions out of 191, while Khairy and Razaleigh gained the support of 61 and 30 divisions, respectively.

However, Zahid failed to command the support of the majority of the delegates, as he only secured 39,197 of the popular votes.

The total votes of his contenders made up more than 50 percent of the popular votes. Khairy and Razaleigh secured 32,592 votes and 20,462 votes, respectively.

-Mkini