KUALA LUMPUR – Opposition leader Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (pic) said former UMNO Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin had turned down three offers made by him.
Ahmad Zahid, who is UMNO president, said he first suggested that Khairy go for the post of deputy president after Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein decided not join in the race.
“But he told me he would like to contest the vice presidency before eventually contesting the post of president. After he lost…I offered him the post of Barisan Nasional secretary-general but he turned it down,” Ahmad Zahid said.
Speaking to reporters at the Parliament lobby here, Ahmad Zahid said Khairy also declined an offer to make him UMNO information chief.
“It is for him to explain (his move) but probably he has his own plans to revive UMNO as a political party and also as a constructive opposition,” he said when queried whether he would meet Khairy following his reported meeting with Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. Both contested the UMNO presidency along with Khairy.
Meanwhile, Khairy (pic) said his relationship with Ahmad Zahid was good even though they only got to interact with each other yesterday after the mass walkout staged by opposition MPs when Parliament convened last week.
Khairy, who lost to Ahmad Zahid in the contest for the presidency at UMNO’s elections recently, described their relationship like that of an elder and younger brother.
“He (Ahmad Zahid) spoke to me just now for the first time since the walkout. He asked me whether I’m speaking (during debate in the Dewan Rakyat) today and I said yes, that’s all. We’re on good terms,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.
Khairy did not join his opposition colleagues when they staged the mass walkout from the Dewan Rakyat on July 16. They did so because they were unhappy with the process of selection of the Speaker.
On the party positions offered to him, Khairy said he turned them down because he did not want to be tied down and wanted to be more free on voicing out his views.
“I’m still with UMNO, but want to have freedom to state my views. It’s good for UMNO. Let me speak without any encumbrances, at least we can celebrate a diversity of views in UMNO,” he added.
— BERNAMA
