Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said he believed the 'bad characters' whom Umno president Najib Abdul Razak spoke about recently did not include former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

When asked at a press conference today, Khairy said the question regarding the identities of such 'bad characters' (jemuan-jemuan) should be referred to Najib.

However, he opined that Najib was not pointing his finger at Mahathir.

"I was together with them (both Najib and Mahathir) the next day (after Najib had made the statement) in Langkawi and they spoke very cordially," claimed Khairy.

Najib had recently called on Umno members to ignore ‘jemuan-jemuan’ (bad hats) and apple polishers as these people caused disunity in the ranks.

"The ‘jemuan’ are worse than apple polishers and 'batu ronson' (instigators) because they try to pit us against each other so much of our shortcomings are amplified and party harmony is affected.

"Leave them out [...] if the 'jemuan' are not there, BN and Umno will win," he said when opening the 2015 Kedah Umno Convention last Saturday.

Najib has come under heavy criticism from Mahathir, particularly regarding the beleaguered 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). The latter has withdrawn his support for the prime minister after the 13th general election.

'We are not immune from criticisms'

Khairy, who also the Youth and Sports Minister, said Umno was a democratic party and would not stop any member from voicing their views.

"So let it be [...] if you want to call them 'jemuan'. As long as they do not destroy the party and they want to criticise, that is fine [...] no problem," said Khairy.

He added that Najib as well as himself were willing to accept criticisms.

"I am not immune from criticism. I think the (party) president is also not immune from criticism. We will accept them," he said.

With regards to the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code II 1993 amendments which were unanimously passed by the Kelantan state assembly today, Khairy said that Umno national leadership would wait for Kelantan Umno to issue its statement before commenting.