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Khairy Jamaluddin, the prime minister's son-in-law and often touted as future prime minister, is both a very sad and happy man nowadays. Khairy is very sad because Manchester United (owned by American Malcolm Glazer) that he supports, had astonishingly failed to qualify for the Champions League finals together with the other English Premier League (EPL) clubs, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool.

Some months ago, Khairy and Sports Minister Azalina Othman joined AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes and other FA officials on a visit to Old Trafford (MU's home). AirAsia is also MU's low-cost carrier.

It was an emotional trip for Khairy, the club he supported since he was a kid. It was sadder still for Khairy because of the defeat by Portugal's Benfica which ended MU's dreams of playing Europe's best.

But Khairy is a very happy man. In charting his political future, Khairy is quite clear, thanks to a little help from father-in-law the prime minister. Thus when he wanted to start with the Umno Youth (as deputy leader), the rest had to make way for him.

Since then Khairy never looked back and with the help of his father-in-law's good friend and former editor-in-chief of the New Straits Times , Kalimullah Hassan, who did enough 'spin' for him, his rise in politics has been monumental.

Press reports and pictures on him far outnumbered those of his boss Hishammuddin Hussein Onn. But no matter, Hishammuddin, too, got enough publicity as minister of education. Thus it is, as the saying goes, a marriage made in heaven.

Nevertheless, Khairy, who is hardly 30 years old, is still in the learning process. Hishammuddin would have to come to the rescue for all of Khairy's gaffes. We are sure that if Khairy were to beat Hishammuddin to the tape, he would remember Hishammuddin's good deeds.

Still, being Oxford-trained, Khairy knows that politics, especially Malaysian (or more precisely Umno) politics, needs money (lots of it) to oil your engine, to throw a bit there, a bit here. For Umno's politics, everybody knows that you need a huge 'war chest'.

And thanks again, to no less than Kalimullah who had resigned as editor-in-chief of NST but remained deputy chairman, Khairy was recruited into ECM Libra, a financial advisory firm, owned by Kalimullah and his Chinese partners.

In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia on Dec 27 last year, ECM said Khairy has bought a stake in ECM Libra from its senior officers. In its filing, ECM Libra said Khairy bought a total of about 13 million shares, or a three per cent stake in the firm in separate transactions from chairman Kalimullah, CEO Lim Kian Onn and chief operating officer Chua Ming Huat.

The purchase is valued at about RM9 million, based on the purchase price of 71 sen a share. As ECM Libra's business grows stronger and stronger, the years ahead should be good for its stakeholders and punters.

Since Khairy is in it, investors can't go wrong if they buy a few lots now and lock them away. And sure enough, one day after Khairy acquired his stake, ECM Libra's shares rose to a one-month high gaining 6.5 sen, or 9.6 percent, to close at 74.5 sen.

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