Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin made his return to the Umno Youth General Assembly this morning, marking his first appearance at the party’s annual gathering since being expelled in January 2023.
Khairy accompanied current Umno Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh into Dewan Merdeka at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur to attend the youth wing assembly.
Also present was another former Umno Youth chief, Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz.
Yesterday, Akmal confirmed Khairy’s attendance, saying the former health minister was expected to boost the morale of delegates.
The Merlimau assemblyman described Khairy, widely known as KJ, as one of the key figures who continues to be respected by the party’s youth wing.
Since his expulsion, Khairy has been active on his podcast platform Keluar Sekejap, which now has more than 421,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Speculation has been rife since October last year that the former Rembau MP, now a radio presenter at Hot FM, could make a political comeback with Umno.
Khairy was expelled from Umno in January 2023 for openly criticising the party’s top leadership during the 15th general election campaign, but has repeatedly said he would not join any other party out of loyalty to Umno.
In GE15, Khairy contested the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat, a Pakatan Harapan stronghold, and despite losing, managed to secure a strong showing and reduce PH’s dominance there.
Khairy first joined the cabinet under former prime minister Najib Razak as youth and sports minister, where he oversaw the successful hosting of the 2017 SEA Games and introduced the National Sports Council’s Podium Programme.
He later served as science, innovation and technology minister, playing a role in the development of the MySejahtera application and the national vaccine procurement programme during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under former prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Khairy was appointed health minister and was fully responsible for the nationwide Covid-19 vaccination rollout.
About The Author
