Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin’s urging for party members “to be brave and to stand with their party president Najib Abdul Razak, even if they are ridiculed for doing so” is clearly a call to display blind loyalty to the party’s president, and more importantly a betrayal to the rakyat by supporting a prime minister embroiled in a corruption scandal of international magnitude.

Khairy’s defence of Najib and placing Umno’s interests before that of the nation is disappointing, to say the least. As the youth minister, Khairy plays an important role in shaping young minds and leading the younger generation by example. The blind cannot and must not lead, otherwise our young generation will be led astray.

Youth leaders like Khairy must be able to think ahead and afar if he wished to see Malaysia thrive in the future. The current political and economic development of the country is gloomy and the future outlook of the nation will be bleak due to current weak and dishonest political leadership.

Najib has not come clean on few key national scandals since he became prime minister. The recent 1MDB scandal has implicated individuals who are close to Najib. Although Najib has not been charged in our courts thus far, he has been tried many times in the court of public opinion, both domestic and international.

Khairy must now prove to the rakyat that he cares for the people and the future of the nation, by showing fearlessness in defending the country from corrupt leaders and practices. To do so, Khairy must either push for Najib’s resignation, otherwise Khairy must resign as a protest against Najib’s leadership.

All Youth chiefs in BN component parties must also state their positions on Khairy’s urging to defend Najib, even if they are called ‘macai’. The public has the right to know in order to decide whether to vote for ‘macai’ in the coming elections.

GINIE LIM is a PKR Youth Wing central committee member and PKR national deputy information chief.