No surprise Khairy sacked by Umno, says ex-adviser of former Malaysian PM Abdullah

PETALING JAYA, Selangor – The

sacking of former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin

by Umno is not a surprise, said Datuk Seri Kalimullah Hassan.

The former adviser to ex-prime minister Abdullah Badawi said that the action makes Umno irrelevant and it may be better for Mr Khairy if the former Rembau MP wants to stay in politics.

“Umno has become almost totally irrelevant anyway and perhaps it’s better for Khairy – if he wants to remain in politics – to branch out on his own,” said Mr Kalimullah in a statement on Saturday.

“After all, he’s only 47 (years old).

“Tun Mahathir Mohamad was sacked at 45 and came back as prime minister. Twice.

“Anwar Ibrahim was sacked by Umno and Mahathir at 50 and came back as prime minister after 24 years.

“Khairy? Who knows.”

Mr Kalimullah said current Umno president Zahid Hamidi and deputy president Mohamad Hasan, popularly known as Tok Mat, are unlikely to become prime ministers despite having eliminated Umno’s great hopes.

“Coincidentally, when Zahid was arrested and sidelined by Mahathir and Umno for being Anwar’s supporter in 1998, it was Khairy’s father-in-law Abdullah Badawi (then deputy prime minister) who intervened with Mahathir and brought Zahid back into the fold,” said Mr Kalimullah.

Referring to Mr Abdullah by his popularly known name, Mr Kalimullah added: “I know that because Pak Lah’s press secretary Kamarulzaman Zainal and I helped Zahid prepare his ‘comeback’ press statement.

“Tok Mat was chief executive officer of Cycle & Carriage and was picked by Pak Lah (then prime minister) to be Negeri Sembilan mentri besar in 2004.

“And now both of them sacked his son-in-law?

“Obviously KJ must have done something unforgivable – like criticising Zahid and Tok Mat?” Mr Kalimullah said, referring to Mr Khairy.

Mr Kalimullah added that he is glad Mr Abdullah is probably unaware of what is happening.

“In that sense, I am glad Pak Lah has dementia and cannot see all this happening.

“Anyway, as I said, what’s there to be surprised about? It’s very rare to see gratitude or humility or a real democrat in Malaysian politics,” he said.

On Friday,

Umno started its purge, sacking Mr Khairy,

who was once Umno Youth chief, and Tan Sri Noh Omar, a member of the party’s supreme council.

“As far as I am concerned, it is better for me to be sacked as opposed to being suspended,” said Mr Noh.

“Umno under the leadership of the president, will not adhere to the law or party Constitution and they will do as they like to further their personal interests.”

Others punished included former party vice-president and Sembrong MP Hishammuddin Hussein, who was suspended for six years.

“What has happened will not break my spirit to continue my struggle for my religion, race and country,” the former defence minister said on Saturday. “This is not the end, but merely a beginning.”

Earlier in a cryptic post on Facebook, he wrote: “Their evil must not make us lose our good.”

The party’s former information chief Shahril Hamdan, former youth executive council member Fathul Bari Mat Jahya, former Johor state executive council member and Tebrau Umno division chief Maulizan Bujang, and former Jempol MP Mohd Salim Mohd Shariff were also suspended for six years.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK