Khairy Jamaluddin

Yang Berhormat Ahli Parlimen Rembau Tuan Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar MP
Minister of Youth and Sports
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2013
Monarch	Abdul Halim
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Ahmad Shabery Cheek
Constituency	Rembau
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Rembau
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2013
Majority	18, 357
Personal details
Born	(1976-01-10) 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	1. Ridzuan Ali Khairy Jamaluddin (Foster child) 2. Jibreil Ali Khairy Jamaluddin 3. Timur Abdullah Khairy Jamaluddin
Alma mater	University of Oxford University College London
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Journalist
Religion	Islam
Website	www.rembau.net.my

Yang Berhormat Tuan Haji 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. After successfully retaining his parliamentary seat in Rembau in the 2013 General Election, he was appointed as the Minister of Youth and Sports.^[1] At UMNO's grassroots level, he holds the post of Deputy Chairman in the Rembau division after winning uncontested in the 2013 party polls.^[2] He previously headed the UMNO branch in Gadong (the birthplace of his father).

Personal background

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.

Political views

Journalistic independence and the Printing Presses and Publications Act

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.^[3]

Internet censorship

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.”^[4] 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.”

Teaching of Maths and Science in English

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.^[5] In September 2008, Khairy called for the reversal of the policy, citing that the policy had failed and only caused burden to students.^[6]

Notable Activities

2006 UMNO General Assembly

Jamaluddin at the UMNO general assembly.

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.^[7] 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."^[8]

Jamaluddin is a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. He is also Chairman of Barisan Nasional Youth, and Leader of UMNO Youth. He has been the Member of Parliament for the federal electorate of Rembau since 2008, where he was declared the winner of a bitterly contested election and controversial vote count. There was wide reporting in the Malaysian media and in the blogosphere of allegations of irregularities and manipulation in the vote. The initial count indicated that Khairy’s opponent, blogger Chegu Bard had won by 144 votes, but after a recount, Khairy won by a margin of 5000 votes.

His rapid rise to power under the prime ministership of his father-in-law attracted the attention of many commentators and the media, who predicted that he would be a future senior leader. During this time, Khairy was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He has written for major publications including The Economist, Time and the Wall Street Journal.

Jamaluddin set up free tuition centres and an internship programme for students, and was involved in a reality television programme on football. He is also an avid user of Facebook and Twitter, and keeps in touch with his supporters and admirers using these new media applications. In 2006, Khairy led a large group of Muslim youth from both sides of politics in street protests during the visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

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."^[9]

Debate challenge to an opposition leader

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.

ECM Libra

Around late 2005, Khairy was involved in ccc 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.^[10] The matter was taken up by the Malaysian Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), 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.”^[11] On August 10, 2006, the committee concluded that the merger was done according to procedure.^[10] 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,” ^[11] On 12 August 2006, Khairy sold his entire holdings in the company.^[12]

Allegation of undue influence on former Malaysian Prime Minister

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.^[13] 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." ^[13]

Statement about non-Malays

In August 2006, The Star reported that an Indo-Chinese daily quoted several leaders criticising Khairy for allegedly saying that non-Malays would take advantage of a weak Umno to make demands.^[14] To this Khairy said that “Leaders from the other parties may have misinterpreted my statement.” ^[14]

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.”^[14]

Although being branded a racist by the opposition, Khairy Jamaluddin defended the Chinese community when Perkasa President Datuk Ibrahim Ali told the Chinese to "stock up" as if the Chinese community would suffer during the BERSIH 2.0 riots. Khairy also demanded that Ibrahim be charged under the Sedition Act as his action would result in a conflict between the races.^[15]

Khairy as a public speaker

Khairy Jamaluddin has debated Ambiga Sreenevasan in an open debate regarding the transparency of Malaysian Election Commission.^[16]

Khairy Jamaluddin also debated Parti Keadilan Rakyat Chief Strategist Rafizi Ramli on the issue of PTPTN loans.^[14]

Leading of protest

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.

Participation in football

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).^[17]

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.^[18]

Involvement in the Army

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.^[19] 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 m to a drop zone in Padang Senai, Kuala Nerang, Kedah, where Khairy received his "wings".^[20]

External links

• Official website

References