THE USUAL SUSPECTS – IDENTIFYING KHAIRY'S DEMONS (PART I)
Relying on a back of the envelope, desktop research:
Candidate 1: Former UMNO President, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohd
For his vicious and never ending assault on Khairy, it would appear that Dr Mahathir is the chief suspect. He started his war against Dato Sri Abdullah Badawi and his family at the 'Perdana Global Peace Forum - The Middle East Agenda' on June 22 2006. What followed will forever be recorded in the annals of history.
Press Conferences
Dr Mahathir launched his attack on Khairy as early as 2 years back, as a perceived ultra malay, Dr Mahathir shocked many when he lambasted Khairy post the Penang incident with statements such as : malaysiakini
"Khairy had not done anything concrete besides making racist remarks."
On Tun Khalil Yaakob's effort to bridge the differences between Dr Mahathir and Prime Minister Dato Seri Abdullah Badawi:
"I understand he informed Khairy and also the prime minister. Of course, he had to inform Khairy as he is a very important person in the party because even menteris besar have to wait when he comes,"
When the issue of ECM Libra dominated the news cycle, Dr Mahathir was quick to attack Khairy with statements such as:
Dr Mahathir telah menimbulkan bagaimana kalau ada di kalangan anggota Pemuda Umno hendak meminjam RM9 juta untuk membeli saham ECM-Libra, bolehkah mereka juga diberikan pinjaman tersebut? malaysiakini
Forums
Even after the 8th March Elections results, Dr Mahathir's guns did not stop firing. In a forum at Singgahsana Hotel in April he accused Khairy's interference:
Siapa yang tukar (nama calon)? Siapa yang duduk bilik sebelah?" katanya, dengan melambangkan secara sinis Naib ketua Pemuda Umno itu sebagai penasihat di istana "duli yang maha mulia sultan (Datuk Seri) Abdullah (Ahmad Badawi) shah".
Kira-kira separuh muka lama digantikan calon baru dalam pilihanraya umum lalu sehingga menimbulkan undi bantahan yang meluas apabila tokoh-tokoh di peringkat bahagian tidak bertanding.
Dr Mahathir berkata akibat campur tangan Khairy itu, ramai calon penting Umno tidak dapat bertanding dalam pilihanraya 8 Mac lalu.
"Ramai jaguh-jaguh Umno tidak dapat bertanding, orang baru diberikan tempat," katanya.
"Inilah reformasi baru ala KJ (Khairy Jamaluddin)," malaysiakini
Blog
The last tirade against Khairy was a blog entry dedicated to the Deupty UMNO Youth Head chedet.com
I reproduce the article here:
KHAIRI'S DILEMMA
1. I feel so sad about the plight of Khairy Jamaluddin, one of the candidates for head of UMNO Youth. He says that he is being prevented from meeting UMNO youths. This might result in his losing the race for the much coveted post.
2. I would advise him not to be disheartened. There are so many other ways of influencing Pemuda than meeting with them. I will not enumerate them as he will know how to use these other ways.
3. If I remember correctly he won the post of Deputy Chief of Pemuda without anyone casting any votes. He won it uncontested. Apart from UMNO Youth chief Hishamuddin Hussein who gave other possible candidates a tongue lashing - telling them in no uncertain terms that they must not contest the position because it was reserved for the Prime Minister's son-in-law, others suspected of having ambitions to contest for the post received phone calls from family members of the PM and other influential supporters not to do anything to spoil the ambition of this first time UMNO member with absolutely no track record from winning uncontested.
4. Although my son will be contesting I have no doubt Khairi will win hands down.
5. I don't know whether people have heard about the thief who cried "thief!". Well the thief got away because people who are not very intelligent went chasing in the opposite direction. The highly educated thief then walked away with his booty.
6. I say good luck to Khairi. You are brilliant and worthy of being a brilliant graduate of that great institution, Oxford University of Great Britain.
This outburst surprised many because the entry was perceived to be an attempt to lobby for his son in the UMNO Youth race. Seeing that the blog entry came after the announcement of the transition of power, (which is what Dr Mahathir fought for since two years ago), the reasons for his continued attack on Khairy was thrown into doubt. After all the attacks, does it all boil down to the UMNO Youth seat? Is this the Kaiser So'ze?
But any which way you look at, the magnitude and frequency of the former premier's attacks on a man young enough to be his grandson is unbecoming of a statesman much respected by his countrymen.
