Ask KJ what he meant by ‘cleaning up’ Umno, says Zahid

Questions about Khairy Jamaluddin’s intention to “clean up Umno” should be referred back to the former Umno Youth chief, says Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

(FMT) – “Ask him what he meant,” said Zahid when asked by reporters here to comment on Khairy’s statement last week.

Khairy is contesting the Sungai Buloh seat for Barisan Nasional after being MP for Rembau for three terms.

Speaking at a ceramah in Sungai Buloh last Friday, Khairy said Umno had gone astray and that the party had to be “fixed”.

Calling himself an “Umno reformist”, Khairy also claimed that the party had “lost its way and needs to go back to its roots”, adding that he wanted to “clean up Umno”.

Zahid, who is BN chairman, has insisted that he had no issues with Khairy despite the ongoing back-and-forth the two have had over Khairy’s candidacy in Sungai Buloh.

“If I wasn’t all right with him, I wouldn’t have let him be a candidate,” Zahid said today.

Khairy has said he was left with no choice but to contest in Sungai Buloh as the party wanted, but Zahid later rebutted, saying that Khairy had asked for Sungai Buloh.

Zahid said Khairy should be thankful that he even had a seat to contest as Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan “was more qualified” to stand in Rembau.

A former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar, Mohamad is also the BN deputy chairman as well as the Rembau Umno chief.

In Sungai Buloh, Khairy is up against R Ramanan (Pakatan Harapan), Ghazali Hamin (Perikatan Nasional), Akmal Yusoff (Pejuang), Ahmad Jufliz Faiza (Parti Rakyat Malaysia) and two independent candidates.