Khairy, the comeback kid

KUALA LUMPUR: Khairy Jamaluddin, the famous 29-year-old youth who was said to be running the country when his father-in-law Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was Prime Minister between 2004 and his eclipse in 2009, is completing his comeback by seeking re-election as Umno youth chief.

Khairy is a much wiser and more experienced man now, while still a young 37 for a cabinet minister.

The Member of Parliament for Rembau recently announced his intention to go for the number one youth post for a second term.

“I made the decision after deep thought and getting the blessings of grassroots supporters,” he said at a Hari Raya get together in Rembau.

  

His strong point is his pull with the youths aged 21 to 30 of all races, especially with the Malay majority.

Surveys have shown that nearly 54% of youths voted for Barisan Nasional. The fact that Khairy was made Youth and Sports minister shows his work is cut out for him: to increase the proportion of these voters for BN.

In March 2009, Khairy fought for the youth chief’s post, but a three-cornered contest cast his bid under a cloud.

The timing was just a year after the disastrous 2008 general election and he was blamed for Umno’s and Barisan’s poor showing.

Besides, his benefactor Abdullah was out of the picture. Umno was in an ugly mood and looking for scapegoats for the loss they had suffered.

Umno warlords who were dropped in the 2008 general election were also screaming for his blood, blaming him for their loss.

With the departure of Abdullah, former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had also returned to the official political landscape and was holding court.

He was lambasting away in his usual acerbic manner and Khairy was one of the people he liked to needle.

While Khairy has refuted some of the attacks coming his way, much of it was beyond his control, like the charge that he was head of the “fourth floor boys” who were supposed to be running the country in the years Abdullah was Prime Minister.

  

Although the 2009 contest for Umno youth was widely seen as the proxy battle between Dr Mahathir and Abdullah, Khairy also contributed to his own success with a narrow win and managed to keep his budding ambitions alive.

He won with a 50-vote poll against rivals Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir (232 votes) and Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo (254 votes.)

Umno meanwhile was committed to winning the 13th general election above all else, which their new leader Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak - who took over the reins in March 2009 - said was a “do or die” battle for them.

Umno put everything else aside as it focused on overcoming the biggest threat to its hold on power in over 60 years of ruling the country.

Now that the election battle is over, Khairy is again offering himself to lead the youth wing.

In the interregnum, he worked himself out as Umno youth and Barisan youth chief, organising one show after another, one festival after another and one jelajah (expedition) after another.

He was in the thick of it all, rallying youths of all races for Barisan. And while the success was not big enough to shout about, he and his team still managed to stop the Pakatan Rakyat machinery from expanding over them.

In the May 5 election, he stood in the Rembau seat again. This time, he polled 18,357 votes for a convincing victory.

This time too he was readily made a minister, with Najib rewarding him for his hard work for Barisan's victory.

Dr Mahathir too has stopped needling him, content that his son Mukhriz is now Kedah Mentri Besar after playing a big part in putting together a team and leading it to victory over arch rivals PAS.

This time around, Khairy is expected to do much better because he is an Umno man in his own right, a minister and a player in Najib’s camp.

Born to a diplomat and travelled around the world, the Oxford-educated Khairy has firmly put his past behind him.

In short, his is a true comeback-kid story.