Khairy: I'm ready to be PM, but not now, let me win Sungai Buloh first

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 9 — Umno’s Khairy Jamaluddin has set his sights on becoming Malaysia’s prime minister, but not just yet.

The Sungai Buloh candidate for the Barisan Nasional (BN) told an audience in the Selangor parliamentary constituency last night that he wants to prove himself first by winning the seven-cornered fight this 15th general election.

“But I think it's time. I want to say, I think it's time. I want to say, OK, but not now lah. Now we win, my kakanda Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be Malaysia's prime minister,” he said to loud cheers from the crowd, based on a brief video posted on Twitter by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reporter Melissa Goh.

Kakanda is an old-fashioned, formal Malay word meaning “older brother”.

Caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri is the BN’s “poster boy” for this election. Coalition leaders have said that he will return as head of government if BN wins the election.

“I'm 46 years old, still can wait, but not so long lah, yeah. I'm ready! But I have to prove it at Sungai Buloh first.

“If the people of Sungai Buloh support me, I can inform the party's people, I came to the dragon's den, 26,000 majority, I won the seat for Barisan Nasional, I want to lead the party and I want to lead the country now,” Khairy said in his speech, and was again met with loud cheers from the audience.

In the same video clip, Khairy was also heard taking a swipe at the Pakatan Harapan (PH).

He observed that PH had been stepping up its attacks on BN since his candidacy for Sungai Buloh was announced.

He quipped that it seems that it was as if Sungai Buloh were the only seat being contested in GE15.

Since nomination day last Saturday, PH leaders have been pushing the idea that a vote for Khairy in the Sungai Buloh seat would translate into a vote for BN chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

PKR deputy president Rafizi Ramli had, for example, said that there was a high chance of Khairy being cut off from Umno if BN wins GE15, and that it would be almost like giving Zahid a sword to chop Khairy off if the latter contributes to the victory by winning the Sungai Buloh seat.

This will be the first time that Khairy is contesting in the Sungai Buloh seat, having previously served as the MP for Rembau in Negri Sembilan for three terms from 2008 to 2018.

In the battle for 158,090 votes, Khairy will be going up against PKR's deputy information chief Datuk R. Ramanan, Perikatan Nasional's Mohd Ghazali Md Hamin, Gerakan Tanah Air's Mohd Akmal Mohd Yusoff, Parti Rakyat Malaysia's Ahmad Jufliz Faizal, and two independent candidates — Syed Abdul Razak Syed Long Alsagoff and Nurhaslinda Basri otherwise known as Sifu Linda.

In the 14th general election, Sungai Buloh had 90,707 registered voters, with 77,951 of them casting their votes.

In GE14, PKR's Sivarasa Rasiah won the Sungai Buloh seat against three other contenders, garnering 43,631 votes which represented a majority of 26,634 votes over PAS candidate Nuridah Mohd Salleh who garnered 16,997 votes.

This is the 26,000 vote-majority that Khairy was referring to in his speech last night.

BN's A. Prakash Rao came in third in that fight with 16,681 votes, while the Parti Sosialis Malaysia candidate Zainurizzaman Moharam garnered 642 votes.