Khairy may face no-confidence vote

KUALA LUMPUR: Umno insiders say the Umno Youth executive committee plans to table a no-confidence vote against their chief Khairy Jamaluddin (picture) soon.

There is growing unhappiness in Umno Youth over Khairy’s leadership and his liberal beliefs. The final straw apparently came with his recent admission that Umno had unwittingly become an extremist party.

His comment is believed to have angered top Umno officials, including Prime Minister and Umno President Najib Abdul Razak.

According to Harakah Daily, the Umno Youth committee had already secured enough votes to oust him.

The move reportedly had the blessings of Najib, Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has for a long time been scornful of the son-in-law of his successor Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

PKR strategist Tian Chua reckons it is not impossible that Khairy will survive the move to boot him out of the system.

“There may be a tough fight but let’s see whether Khairy can survive this,” he said. “He may surprise everyone by turning the tables on his enemies.”

PAS strategist Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad echoed Tian Chua’s view, saying it was premature to write Khairy off.

“It is actually strange for Umno to want to push him out,” he said. “I would rate him as a definite asset to Umno because he can provide the check and balance the party needs against the hardliners and those with self interest like Dr Mahathir, who just refuses to go away.”

Dzulkefly said he would welcome Khairy into Pakatan Rakyat if he was sincere in his intentions to serve the rakyat.

FMT
01/02/10

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