Khairy roasted for ‘arrogance’

Blogger Shahbudin harshly attacks him for his outburst against an Umno branch leader.

PETALING JAYA: If Khairy Jamaluddin was looking for trouble with his outburst against an Umno Youth branch leader yesterday, he has certainly found it.

Any average observer of Malaysian politics could have told the Umno Youth chief that running down a minor official with words like “lowest of the low” while appearing to lick the boots of an increasingly unpopular leader is not the thing to do, especially in Malay politics.

Shahbudin Husin, a former Federal Territory Umno Youth official and now a blogger who is widely followed, has come to the defence of Syed Rosli Jamalullail, the information chief of an Umno branch who recently wrote an open letter calling on Najib Abdul Razak to quit both his prime ministership and party presidency.

Shahbudin makes a harsh attack against Khairy, describing him as arrogant, reminding him of his lack of pedigree and telling him that his rise in politics was gained through his marriage to former prime minister Abdullah Badawi’s daughter as well as the support of humble people like Syed Rosli.

He says Khairy was “parachuted” into his first executive position in Umno Youth, meaning he got it without struggling through the ranks, and later won the leadership of the movement only because the Umno grassroots – made up of people like Syed Rosli – worked hard for him from sheer goodwill.

He says he doubts if Khairy could have even won his parliament seat without the selfless service of the people in Umno’s lower ranks.

Shahbudin says Syed Rosli is not alone in his dissatisfaction with Najib’s leadership as one could tell from Muhyiddin Yassin’s speech at the recent Umno assembly, Mahathir Mohamad’s frequent criticism and the less obvious but increasingly frequent rumblings within Umno.

Generally, he says, the complaint is regarding Najib’s failure to improve public support for Umno.

“In truth,” he adds, “the views expressed by Syed Rosli are relevant in the context of trying to save Umno and BN from falling.”