Despite Khairy’s insufficient an UMNO celebration leadership position, Muhyiddin appointed Khairy because science and advancement minister.
COVID-19 PROPELLED KHAIRY TO CENTRE ASSOCIATED WITH ATTENTION
Afterwards, as COVID-19 slowly engulfed Malaysia, Muhyiddin put Khairy in charge of the national vaccination program . That propelled Khairy once again towards the centre of interest, as Malaysians scrambled to get themselves and their loved ones vaccinated contrary to the deadly virus.
Khairy’s steady plus capable handling of the vaccination programme, along with frequent personal participation on the ground and science-backed decisions, won your pet applause from the public. He became therefore indispensable in the pandemic-fighting effort that when UMNO’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob took over as prime ressortchef (umgangssprachlich), Khairy was made minister of health.
But that kind of heightened public acclaim seemingly did not create Khairy particularly favored by either grassroots or even senior leadership inside UMNO, which saw Khairy as a large threat to their own political advancements.
In GE15, UMNO’s mainstream faction eased Khairy out of his almost sure-win Rembau parliamentary constituency in favour of the party’s number two, Mat Hassan. Instead, Khairy needed to settle with PH stronghold Sungai Buloh. He ran a strenuous electoral campaign , but ultimately it had been not enough to wrest the PH-safe chair away.
In the two months since, a visibly disgruntled Khairy no longer minced their words. He openly declared his political ambition of eventually getting Malaysia’s prime ressortchef (umgangssprachlich) . He roundly criticised the party’s senior leadership for not holding elections for that top two party posts.
Zahid listened and finally got enough of Khairy’s grumbles – simply by expelling him from UMNO on January 28.