PETALING JAYA - Fresh from an election defeat, Mr Khairy Jamaluddin believes it is not the end of the road for him but wants time to reflect on the outcome of the national polls before deciding on what to do next.

For now, the Barisan Nasional candidate for Sungai Buloh said he was looking forward to watching the World Cup on television after a 14-day gruelling campaign.

“The truth is, I am exhausted. I have not really had time to rest since I was asked to manage the pandemic. It has been a tough two years for me, steering the country out of Covid-19.

“But it was a great privilege to serve the nation at such a critical time, and I am glad we have recovered better than many other countries,” he said.

Since 2020, Mr Khairy, who held both the health minister and science, technology and innovation minister positions, had played the lead role in managing the Covid-19 pandemic for Malaysia.

In the 15th General Election on Saturday, Mr Khairy, who was in a seven-cornered fight, was defeated by Pakatan Harapan’s Ramanan Ramakrishnan, who won with a majority of 2,693 votes.

Recalling his election experience, Mr Khairy said one of the most harrowing things about being a politician was being publicly validated every five years.

Elections are a basis for any functioning democracy, but they are also something that tells the politician if he is “good enough or otherwise”, he noted.

“Those are the rules and you have to accept it when people don’t think you are good enough to represent them.

“I think I tried my best. But I wasn’t good enough. A loss is a loss, no matter how close you came or how many people express disappointment at your loss,” he said in an Instagram post.

Mr Khairy hopes that those who have been elected will “act with wisdom and compassion”.

“There remains tremendous uncertainty in the country. The country needs stability and leadership more than ever.

“I wish you all the very best,” he added. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK