Umno’s resistance to change
Khairy Jamaluddin: Reading the writing on the wall
By Jacqueline Ann Surin and Shanon Shah, The Nut Graph
WHO would be envious of Khairy Jamaluddin?
Despite his meteoric rise within Umno and the doors that were presumably opened to him as the prime minister's son-in-law, the changing political tide means the 33-year-old now has to swim against currents. And swim he does.
With Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's exit as premier and Umno president accelerated to March 2009, Khairy will now be slugging it out in politics in his own right.
In the last Umno polls, Khairy won uncontested the post of deputy Youth chief. But in the upcoming polls in March, Khairy is vying for the Youth chief position in a three-corner fight with Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir and Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo.
The shifting political winds also means shifting political fortunes. Not just for first-time Member of Parliament Khairy; there have also been seismic shifts in Malaysian politics, as demonstrated by the Barisan Nasional (BN)'s drubbing in the 2008 general election, and the subsequent Permatang Pauh and Kuala Terengganu by-elections.
In the first of a three-part interview with The Nut Graph conducted on 2 Feb 2009, Khairy talks candidly about why the BN and Umno are resistant to change, and mulls the long road ahead.
