Malaysia’s UMNO set to welcome Khairy, Hishammuddin back into the fold as election season nears

KUALA LUMPUR - Former UMNO ministers Khairy Jamaluddin and Hishammuddin Hussein are set to return to the fold of Malaysia’s once dominant political party.

This comes as UMNO moves to strengthen its ranks ahead of three state elections due by mid-2027 and amid growing talk that national polls due by early 2028 might be held earlier.

Former health minister Khairy, 50, who is the party’s former youth chief, visited Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi on March 15 to “request that my sacking from UMNO is rescinded and my original membership is reactivated”.

“I’m coming home,” Mr Khairy wrote in the caption of a March 16 Instagram photo of him handing his formal application to Datuk Seri Zahid.

Former defence minister Hishammuddin, 64, who is a former UMNO vice-president, has also formally requested to restore his membership status, according to UMNO secretary-general Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki in a Facebook post on March 16.

While Datuk Seri Hishammuddin has not yet posted a statement directly confirming the submission of a formal letter to the party, he said in a video posted on Instagram on March 12 that he is prepared to return and be active in UMNO once again if his suspension is lifted.

The Sembrong MP was suspended for six years in January 2023 at the same time that Mr Khairy was sacked. They were part of a purge of members critical of Mr Zahid’s leadership following the November 2022 election that saw UMNO win just 26 of 222 parliamentary seats, its worst-ever showing.

The move secured Mr Zahid’s control of the party, but UMNO continued to bleed support when six states picked new governments in August 2023. It won just 17 per cent of the seats it contested, dropping to just 19 assemblymen from 41 previously in those states.

Mr Zahid also said his former protege Khairy’s appeal “is among the true meanings of Rumah Bangsa” – which roughly translates to House of the (Malay) Nation – to “bring together what was torn apart”.

“Hopefully, Rumah Bangsa will be the foundation to… bring back UMNO’s strength as the core of Malay Muslim politics in our motherland,” he said on social media, adding that he would extend Mr Khairy’s appeal to the Rumah Bangsa Unification Committee chaired by vice-president Khaled Nordin.

Sources in the know told The Straits Times that Mr Khairy’s return has been in the making for a year, and that “it’s a fait accompli – the committee will approve it”.

Johor UMNO youth chief Noor Azleen Ambros, an aide to Defence Minister Khaled, told ST that “my hope is that he (Khairy) will be able to play his role as a better team player for the organisation and the party, setting aside any self-centric approach”.

However, analysts caution that the return of former leaders will not automatically mean voters will do the same.

“It closes off several battle fronts of internal unhappiness ahead of upcoming polls. So UMNO won’t bleed as much support, but whether it can regain voters that left previously is going to take more than the return of ex-leaders,” said Mr Adib Zalkapli.

“After all, these same figures were also in the party during the time from 2004 to 2022 when it recorded successively worse election results,” the managing director of advisory firm Viewfinder Global Affairs added.

UMNO had ruled Malaysia since independence for six straight decades until its shock defeat in 2018. It launched the Rumah Bangsa initiative at its annual congress in January, to boost its standing at upcoming Melaka, Johor and Sarawak state polls.

Although a general election is not due until early 2028, speculation that it may be held earlier to coincide with one or more of these state polls has gained momentum in recent weeks.

UMNO’s performance at these elections depends on whether it can “change the image of the party that has been damaged by corruption allegations and the perception that it is disconnected from the ordinary Malaysian”, said risk consultancy KRA Group’s strategy director Amir Fareed Rahim.

“Success is not only about getting the most prominent dissidents back into the fold but showing that UMNO can return as the choice of Malays after its worst-ever showing. UMNO can benefit if it shows itself as stable and even growing compared to the internal schisms currently being experienced by other rivals like Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and even Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat,” he added.

Datuk Seri Anwar’s party is split into two camps, with former deputy president Rafizi Ramli leading nearly half of its MPs as well as a host of grassroots leaders.

Meanwhile, former prime minister and Bersatu chief Muhyiddin Yassin has seen most of his party’s MPs back parliamentary opposition leader Hamzah Zainudin after the latter was sacked in February following a bitter feud between the two.