Accepting DJ job offer Khairy's way of criticising Umno

SHAH ALAM - Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin's decision accepting the offer to be a radio presenter (DJ) is seen as a way of him criticising Umno, the party that had sacked him.

University Technology Malaysia (UTM) political analyst Mazlan Ali said Khairy Jamaluddin or fondly known as KJ has proven that many had wanted to work with him after he was removed from the party.

“Being a DJ is a parody, his (Khairy) way of criticising the (Umno) leadership.

“He wanted to show that even though he was sacked (by Umno), many wanted to accept him. As soon as Umno removed Khairy from the party, many wanted to work with him.

"It meant that they (Umno) had rejected someone who is popular, this can be considered as a criticism by Khairy against Umno.

"For example, how does the youths today show their protest? Khairy’s action is one of the protest against the political world.

"He threw criticisms through parody, by accepting an offer to be a DJ," he told Sinar Harian on Friday.

It was reported that Khairy took up the challenge to be a DJ and will officially start his new career with local radio station Hot FM on Feb 15.

Mazlan agreed that Khairy was an icon for the youths where majority of his supporters were the Generation Y.

Therefore, he said, it was not surprising that the former Rembau MP was now making his way into the glamorous world.

"It's not appropriate to compare Khairy with leaders who had left Umno before such as Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

"This is because the people who support him are the Generation Y group which is synonymous with the world of entertainment and glamor on social media.

"This suits the political world of Khairy. People would not think that he is doing this out of the blue and it is not impossible if he becomes a football player after this,” he said.

Commenting further, Mazlan said Khairy was a popular leader in the party, however he faced problems with the leadership.

"Khairy's mistake was criticising Umno as a Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate while campaigning in Sungai Buloh for the 15th General Election (GE15) which resulted into him getting sacked by the party.

"Looking at his experience and popularity, I will root for him to win if he contested the Umno vice president post.

"But I don't think Khairy will form a new party, he will remain loyal to Umno. Based on past experience, there are leaders who were sacked by the party and eventually returned as a great leader.

"Khairy is not suitable in Pas or DAP. PKR might be appropriate, but he really needs to be in Umno as well," he said.