| Khairy Jamaluddin | |
|---|---|
| Chairman of UMNO's Youth Wing | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 26 March 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Hishammuddin Hussein |
| Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Rembau |
|
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 8 March 2008 |
|
| Preceded by | Firdaus Muhammad Rom bin Harun |
| Majority | 5,746 |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 10 January 1976 Kuwait City, Kuwait |
| Political party | UMNO - Barisan Nasional |
| Spouse(s) | Nori Abdullah Badawi |
| Relations | Son-in-law of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi |
| Children | Jibreil Ali Timur Abdullah |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford University College London |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Journalist |
| Religion | Islam |
| Website | http://www.rembau.net/ |
Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (born 10 January 1976) is a Malaysian politician, and the son-in-law of former Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Since 2008, Khairy has been a member of the Malaysian Parliament representing the constituency of Rembau. He is also the Chairman of Barisan Nasional Youth (the youth organisation of Malaysia's governing coalition), and the Head of the youth wing of the UMNO political party. At UMNO's grassroots level, he holds the post of Youth Chief in the Rembau division, and also heads the UMNO branch in Gadong (the birthplace of his father).
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Khairy is the only son of former diplomat Dato' Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Dato' Rahmah Abdul Hamid. Khairy's late father, Datuk Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, was a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, retiring as the Malaysian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Dato' Jamaluddin died of throat cancer. Khairy's mother, Dato' Rahmah Abdul Hamid, has been heavily involved in volunteer work throughout her life. Khairy's grandfather, Penghulu Abu Bakar, was a community leader in Kota, Rembau.
Khairy was born in Kuwait City, Kuwait. He had his secondary education at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore, and his university education at Oxford University and University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom. While at Oxford, he studied at St Hugh's College, and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). In 1998, he completed his Master's degree in Legal and Political Theory at UCL.
After leaving university, Khairy worked as a journalist for a period. He served as a presenter on the talkshow Dateline Malaysia. He also had a stint working for The Economist in 1999. Thereafter, Khairy became a Special Officer in the office of Abdullah Badawi, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was Abdullah's Deputy Principal Private Secretary from 2003-04.
In October 2001, Khairy married Abdullah's daughter Nori Abdullah. The couple have two sons, Jibreil Ali Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Timur Abdullah Jamaluddin Abu Bakar.
Khairy believes that Malaysia should and could repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and abolish the annual Home Ministry licensing requirement, through the creation of an independent body which will enforce a self-regulatory mechanism of the system similar to the United Kingdom’s Press Complaints Commission.[1]
In August 2008, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission blocked access to the popular site, Malaysia Today. Khairy spoke against the move, citing that the move was a “blatant and crude employment of state power” and “is inconsistent with the widening roads of democratic highways.”[2] Khairy also said that such move will only eliminate young urban voters voting from the ruling party, and is at odds with the Multimedia Super Corridor Bill of Guarantees – a 10-point Bill that prescribes zero Internet censorship.”
Following concerns about the declining command of the English language among students, the Malaysian Ministry of Education implemented a policy whereby Science and Mathematics would be taught in English in Malaysian Government schools. The policy was implemented from January 2003.[3] In September 2008, Khairy called for the reversal of the policy, citing that the policy had failed and only caused burden to students.[4][5]
The 2006 UMNO Annual General Assembly was noted for controversial statements made by several delegates, such as Hashim Subodoh, who asked Hishammuddin when he would "use" the keris; Hishammuddin had again brandished the keris at the assembly that year. The assembly was the first to have its entire proceedings televised in full. Several delegates raised the issue of the Malay Agenda, and called for greater enforcement of the NEP.[6] In response to concerns over the racial rhetoric, Vice President Muhyiddin Yassin said that "Although some sides were a bit extreme [this year], it is quite normal to voice feelings during the assembly."[7]
Khairy Jamaluddin, who was then the deputy chief of the youth wing, insisted that "while there is nothing extraordinary about this year’s congress and that similar sentiments have been raised in the past, these feelings have never compromised the ultimate manifestation of governance in this country through BN’s power-sharing formula."[8]
In September 2005, Khairy challenged Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang to a debate in Parliament. However Lim told him not to ask any Member of Parliament (MP) to debate unless he himself became an MP. Khairy declined and later argued that he had meant to ask Lim to debate the matter in Parliament, and did not challenge him to a debate.
Around late 2005, Khairy was involved in a merger between ECM Libra Capital Bhd and the government-linked Avenue Capital Resources Bhd, which resulted in the creation of ECM Libra Avenue Bhd.[9] The matter was taken up by the Malaysian Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, as according to the Committee's chairman Datuk Shahrir Abdul Samad, “We want to know how the decision making process was done because it involves two well-known personalities, Datuk Kalimullah Hassan and Khairy Jamaluddin.”[10] On August 10, 2006, the committee concluded that the merger was done according to procedure.[9] On August 11, Shahrir Abdul Samad said: “In terms of legality – the role of the regulator in assessing the value of the companies and mergers, processing the undertaking of mergers and (protecting) interests of minority shareholders – all have been adhered to,” [10] On 12 August 2006, Khairy sold his entire holdings in the company.[11]
Khairy was perceived as too close to the halls of power under Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, and has been singled out by former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Mahathir as an undue influence.[12] On this allegation, Khairy replied that "I am a pretty easy scapegoat. [But] the decisions Dr. Mahathir is unhappy with are entirely made by the Prime Minister and the cabinet." [12]
In August 2006, The Star reported that a Indo-Chinese daily quoted several leaders criticising Khairy for allegedly saying that non-Malays would take advantage of a weak Umno to make demands.[13] To this Khairy said that “Leaders from the other parties may have misinterpreted my statement.” [13]
He further said that “A weak Umno would lead to various parties making demands and this could affect unity in the Barisan”, and referred to the issues raised by the Chinese election watch group Su Qiu in the 1999 elections by saying that “Umno was weak at that time and people took advantage of that.”[13]
In 2006, during a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Kuala sungai, Khairy, together with members of the ruling UMNO party and some members of the Malaysian Islamist party PAS, led a demonstration to the venue of the meeting where he handed over a memo to demand Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon and the suspension of the military operation there.
Khairy holds a number of high profile positions in the Malaysian football scene, and is involved in a number of football-related associations.
In 2006, Khairy teamed-up with radio DJ Jason Lo (who he attended high school with in Singapore) to produce the reality TV show MyTeam. The show, which was televised on TV3, brought together a squad of unknown football players selected at trials held around Malaysia to form a team to take on the Malaysian national football team in an pink-slip match. The event drew much publicity, and MyTeam put up a creditable performance in losing 2-1 against the national side. MyTeam were invited to enter the Malaysian Premier League in 2007. The team merged with an existing club, Perak UPB FC, to form UPB-MyTeam FC, at which Khairy became the President and Lo the Deputy President. After finishing runners-up in the Premier League in 2007, the club was promoted to the Malaysian Super League for the 2008 season. A second season of the show, MyTeam2, was broadcast in 2007 (MyTeam2 took on the Indonesian national football team, losing 2-0).[14]
On September 9, 2007, Khairy was chosen uncontested as the Vice President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) during the 44th FAM Congress, to serve from 2007 to 2010, replacing Tengku Mahkota Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.[15]
Khairy joined the Rejimen Askar Wataniah or the Territorial Army as a reservist after completing one month of training in Negeri Sembilan and Johor in May 2010. [16] He then completed a five-week basic static parachuting course conducted by the army's Special Warfare Centre with 78 others in February 2011. The group marked the occasion by parachuting from an aircraft at a height of 1,000 mm to a drop zone in Padang Senai, Kuala Nerang, Kedah, where Khairy received his "wings". [17]
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