The recent cabinet reshuffle that saw several Umno ministers being moved around has been described as an alleged show of power by the party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, in his latest ‘Keluar Sekejap’ podcast, branded the deputy prime minister as Thanos, the supervillain in Marvel Comics, and said that Zahid was sending a message that he is still in charge of Umno despite a health issue.
"When he (Zahid) heard that the prime minister was going to reshuffle the cabinet, he probably thought that after undergoing surgery, it was his chance to tell the people he is still in charge.
"(That) he is not going anywhere, and he can move people around. Doesn't matter whether you are the party deputy president or vice-president, (he wants to tell) that you shouldn't be comfortable.
"The only one that would be constant is him (Zahid), Thanos," he said during the podcast aired on YouTube today.
Khairy was discussing the recent cabinet reshuffle with his co-host Shahril Hamdan, who is also a former Umno leader.
The reshuffle saw Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim swapping the portfolios of several federal ministers, including Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan’s defence portfolio being changed to Foreign Ministry - a position that Khairy claimed provides a lesser political advantage.
Another Umno minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin was moved from the Higher Education Ministry to the Defence Ministry.
"He (Zahid) is keeping people on their toes. So, I thought it was, again, another political masterclass from Zahid," added Khairy.
Political disadvantage
On Mohamad's new portfolio, Khairy said the foreign minister may be a "very senior" position but would put the Rembau MP at a political disadvantage.
Compared to the defence portfolio, he said Mohamad would have a much lesser chance to touch base with the rakyat and grassroots political leaders.
Khairy also revealed his conversation with former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also his father-in-law, over the difficulty he (Abdullah) faced when he headed Wisma Putra.
"I still remember when I spoke to Pak Lah regarding his experience as a foreign minister.
"While he agreed that being appointed as a foreign minister did not stop him from becoming a prime minister, he admitted that the position had made things politically difficult for him," the former health minister said.
According to Khairy, the foreign minister position would make Mohamad spend more of his time overseas, which means he also has less room for touchpoints with the Malaysian public.
"At least when he was the defence minister, he could still conduct visits to military camps and take the opportunity to meet families of our soldiers, the locals and even Umno division chiefs around the area.
"But being a foreign minister, who is he going to meet? The Umno division chief for Zimbabwe?" asked Khairy.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.