Khairy Jamaluddin is one the most recognisable faces in the Malaysian political landscape. In recent times, he is known for being critical of corruption in Umno as well as his ministerial roles in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.
During this period, the Oxford-trained politician, who was born in Kuwait to a diplomat father, carved a popular and personable image on social media, which has attracted a large following among youths.
But the 46-year-old former health minister is no greenhorn, having entered the world of politics more than two decades ago. From day one, he has been regarded as an ambitious politician who set his sights on the ultimate prize - to become prime minister.
In this article, Malaysiakini revisits his political career.
‘Fourth-floor boys’
Khairy first landed in the limelight when he served as special officer to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who became deputy premier after Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from the post in 1999. Two years later, Khairy married Abdullah’s daughter Nori.
Abdullah would succeed Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister in 2003 but detractors claimed that the real power was in his son-in-law’s hands.
The first Malaysiakini article featuring Khairy was on Jan 17, 2001, when he was mentioned as part of an Umno Youth team that held secret negotiations with the Malaysian Chinese Organisation Election Appeals Committee (Suqiu).
This was to work on a joint statement walking back the electoral demands by Suqiu deemed sensitive to Malays.
The former Rembau MP’s prominence grew around 2003, leading to his eventual ascension as Umno Youth deputy chief in 2004 - a post he won uncontested.
Khairy resigned as Abdullah’s aide in 2004 but would remain influential in the corridors of power as the leader of the prime minister’s team of advisers dubbed the “fourth-floor boys”, referring to their base of operations in the fourth floor of the Prime Minister’s Office in Putrajaya.
Mahathir, who had lost confidence in his handpicked successor, was among those who had described the son-in-law as the “de facto prime minister”, which the father-in-law denied.
READ MORE: ‘Me, Pak Lah and the 4th Floor boys’
In 2005, Khairy courted controversy when he told the France-based International Herald Tribune that Abdullah decided after the 11th general election (in 2004) not to dig up past corrupt practices.
That same year marked the beginning of scrutiny into Khairy’s business dealings with ECM Libra - a boutique investment firm he joined in 2004 as a corporate advisory services director.
In late 2005, the then Umno Youth deputy chief bought 13 million shares for RM9.2 million to acquire a three percent stake in the firm.
Critics questioned how Khairy financed the purchase. He later clarified that he took a loan from ECM Libra for the deal.
Less than a month after he acquired the shares, the government announced plans to merge ECM Libra with GLC Avenue Capital - which eventually led to the creation of ECM Libra Avenue.
Khairy faced intense pressure over his involvement in the firm and eventually sold his shares in August 2006, losing RM200,000 in the process.
A Public Accounts Committee probe into the ECM Libra-Avenue Capital merger stalled after the then-second finance minister Nor Mohamed Yakcop testified. The probe was never completed.
The Malay ultra
Meanwhile, as Umno Youth deputy chief, Khairy - who was perceived by some as a Malay ultra - had butted heads with MCA on several occasions.
For example, in August 2006, he warned Umno members that Chinese Malaysians would exploit the infighting within the ruling party to advance their community's interests.
This sparked a two-month-long standoff with MCA and Gerakan, culminating in an unapologetic Khairy explaining his remarks to BN behind closed doors.
In the 2007 Umno general assembly, Khairy made veiled remarks against Malaysian Indians when he complained that Abdullah’s policy speech was not carried by most newspapers and that the distribution of newspapers was controlled by “one race”.
Most mainstream papers had closed for one day in conjunction with Deepavali, which coincided with the AGM.
In the same speech, Khairy called for the introduction of targeted subsidies for the needy.
Meanwhile, he also advised the Abdullah administration against meeting with the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf). The then-government’s alleged failure to address the concerns of the Malaysian Indian community was cited as a major factor in BN’s dismal performance in the 2008 general election, which forced Abdullah to step down.
The Youth chief
Although BN lost its two-thirds majority in the Dewan Rakyat for the first time since 1969 when it was known as the Alliance in the 2008 polls, Khairy managed to win the Rembau Parliament seat with a safe margin.
It was against this backdrop and shift in public sentiment that Khairy reinvented himself, shifting from a Malay ultra persona to a more moderate, liberal, and progressive image to appeal to the middle ground.
The rebranding is believed to have helped him win the Umno Youth chief post against Mahathir’s son Mukhriz and former Selangor menteri besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo in the 2008 party polls despite losing Abdullah’s patronage.
Khairy would later declare himself a reformist, justifying his previous pandering to Malay ultra sentiments as a means to protect the Umno leadership from being outflanked during a “bad moon” period.
He even joined the Askar Wataniah military reserve of the Malaysian army as part of his image rebranding.
In his speech at the 2009 Umno general assembly, he urged the party to move away from the concept of "Malay dominance" to one of "Malay leadership", and called for improving ties with other races.
He also espoused meritocracy.
READ MORE: Khairy: I'm a centrist radical
In the following years, Khairy would condemn a protest over the relocation of a Hindu temple, where protestors paraded the severed head of a cow and an arson attack on a church following disputes on the use of the word Allah.
He also led BN Youth to issue a joint statement with Pakatan Rakyat Youth to condemn attacks on places of worship and ask Malaysians to unite.
Some highlights during his first tenure as MP include Khairy advocating for press freedom, varsity students being allowed to join politics, and automatic voter registration.
However, the Malay ultra streak still emerged at times, for example when he clashed with the likes of DAP’s Karpal Singh in the Dewan Rakyat.
READ MORE: Khairy's first debate on royal address riles opposition
Khairy also led several protests by Umno Youth at embassies over international issues.
His most infamous protest was the red-shirt Patriot rally he organised in 2015 in response to the fourth Bersih 2 march where participants mainly wore yellow.
The red-shirt rally was held on the grounds that elections in Malaysia at the time were free and fair.
During the protest - held the same day as Bersih 2 - Khairy led Umno Youth members in a surprise charge against riot police and was met by tear gas and water cannons. He was detained on that day, but not charged.
The youth minister
Fast forward to the 2013 general election, Khairy retained the Rembau seat for a second term. He also successfully kept his spot as Umno Youth chief later that year.
It was also the year he was appointed to his first cabinet post as youth and sports minister. Khairy’s time in office from 2013 to 2018 saw him pandering to those on the left and the right from his “centrist” position.
One highlight during this period was when former premier Najib Abdul Razak appointed him the lead minister for the 2050 National Transformation (TN50) programme which sought to engage youths in formulating a plan for the country’s future development.
Other notable incidents during this stage included his request for Umno Youth members to be given important posts in GLCs, and defending Najib’s decision to retain the Sedition Act.
When the Federal Court jailed Anwar over a second sodomy charge, Khairy joined lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah on a roadshow organised by Umno Youth to “shed light” on the case where lurid details were discussed in public.
On another note, when a senior officer at the Youth and Sports Ministry was implicated in an RM100 million corruption case, Khairy accepted responsibility for the scandal but stopped short of resigning.
During the 1MDB saga, Khairy was among those who expressed concern about the investment firm’s ability to pay off its debts.
However, he was also among those who denied any element of corruption when allegations surfaced that US$681 million (often converted to RM2.6 billion) of 1MDB funds had made its way into Najib’s personal accounts.
Similar to many other cabinet members, Khairy also peddled the narrative that it was a political donation from Saudi royalty.
READ MORE: Khairy: Defend Najib even if you're called 'macai'
The Umno reformist
Things changed quickly when BN lost the 2018 general election.
Khairy said he regretted not telling Najib the truth about the grassroots rejecting Umno, and later would admit that the 1MDB scandal caused the coalition’s electoral defeat.
However, Umno being ousted from power became an opportunity for Khairy to propel his political career and gunned for the Umno president post.
During this phase, he again leaned on his reformist image and toyed with the idea of making Umno a multiracial party, and ridding it of warlords, racism, and sexism.
However, Khairy’s 11th-hour decision to enter the party presidential race ended up backfiring.
Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, who also vied for the top post in 2018, claimed Khairy was among those who asked him to contest. During that meeting, the Umno veteran alleged that Khairy also turned down the prospect of contesting for the post himself.
Ultimately, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi would emerge as the winner. Zahid won just 42.4 percent of the votes but Umno’s electoral college system allowed him to clinch the win as Khairy and Razaleigh split the rest of votes between them.
From there on, Khairy would drift apart from the Umno mainstream and become a vocal critic of Zahid and Najib.
The pandemic hero
While his influence in Umno waned, Khairy’s popularity among the public begin to grow, especially after the Sheraton Move in 2020 which saw Umno return to Putrajaya.
Back in the cabinet as minister of science, technology, and innovation, Khairy would become the face of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts.
At a time when ministers and their deputies were often under fire for alleged incompetence or for flouting Covid-19 restrictions, Khairy stood out. Even political rivals hailed him as a competent leader.
This culminated in his appointment as health minister and being put in charge of the nation’s Covid-19 public health response.
READ MORE: COMMENT | Khairy shows us that competence matters
The only controversy during this period was the contract for the MySejahtera application, which he conceded the government had become “stuck with”.
But while his public perception improved, Khairy remained an outlier in the Umno top echelon.
This led to him being moved out of his safe seat in Rembau in the last general election and he was fielded instead in the Pakatan Harapan stronghold of Sungai Buloh.
During the campaign period, he attempted to ride on his clarion call to reform Umno, making it clear he wanted the top post. But he was defeated and his desire to contest the Umno presidency hit a brick wall when he was axed from the party on Jan 27.
Khairy, who said he was not accorded due process, has decided not to appeal his expulsion and is now being showered with offers from other parties to join their ranks.
However, he has found a job down south in Johor, as the state’s youth adviser and president of the state’s football club.
On the political front, it remains to be seen if KJ, as he is popularly known, can emulate the mythical phoenix and rise from the ashes again.
READ MORE: YBs can jump, so can Malaysiakini
- Mkini
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