KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s former Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin will not appeal against his dismissal from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), and is considering contesting in the coming state election in Selangor.
“No show cause letter, no due process, I’ve not been asked to appear in front of a disciplinary board, just summarily dismissed by my party,” the 47-year-old told CNA.
In a statement issued last Friday (Jan 27) following a party supreme council meeting, UMNO secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said Mr Khairy was among a number of members who have been expelled for breaching party disciplinary rules during November’s general election.
UMNO MEMBER FOR 23 YEARS
“I was an UMNO member for 23 years. As far as politics is concerned, that was everything to me,” said Mr Khairy, a former UMNO youth chief. “For it to descend to what it is today is extremely tragic and sad.
“And I do believe that it will be very difficult for UMNO to come back from this, not because it sacked me, but because the entire trajectory of UMNO has been downwards – left with 26 seats, reluctant to reform, scared to open up the top two positions for an open contest, and public support at its lowest in its history.”
The supreme council meeting was keenly watched after UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said a day earlier that the party will undergo “mass cleansing” to get rid of “saboteurs” and those who have “shot themselves in the foot”.
Meanwhile, former defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein and former UMNO information chief Shahril Hamdan were among several politicians suspended from the party.
When asked if he had represented the best hope for UMNO to resuscitate itself, Mr Khairy said: “I don’t think it was just me. I think that there was a team of leaders who wanted to offer themselves for the leadership of UMNO.
“Resuscitating the party would not happen overnight. But we believe that we could present to the members a vision of recovery and a vision of rebuilding UMNO, and we were not allowed to do that.”