The outspoken Khairy Jamaluddin was 'speechless' today when asked to comment on the harsh criticisms from the MCA Youth which seemed to target Umno.

Despite sitting through the two-hour-long opening ceremony of the annual MCA Youth meet in Malacca today, the Umno Youth deputy leader was in the dark on the content of the MCA leaders' speeches as they were mostly delivered in Mandarin.

MCA Youth chief Liow Tiong Lai in a fiery speech said the movement will not compromise extreme racism and accused certain quarter of stirring up the Chinese community's sentiment.

In an apparent reference to Umno Youth, Liow - while leading his committee members to wave copies of the Federal Constitution - also said people should wave the constitution instead of brandishing the keris , a traditional Malay dagger.

The Bahasa Malaysia portion of his address made at the meeting did not include those criticisms.

MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy who opened the AGM also wanted Umno and MCA youth leaders to work together and he named Liow, Khairy and Umno Youth chief Hishammuddin Hussein.

'Did he say that?'

When the opening ceremony was over and journalists were all ready to ask Khairy for comments on the speeches, the only response from him was that he has to read the speech first.

Asked to comment on Liow's remarks on waving the constitution instead of the keris , Khairy replied: "Did he say that? I have to see how it was phrased, I don't understand Mandarin."

To other questions on Liow's comments, he reiterated that he has to read the full text before responding.

Asked whether he has received a translated version of Liow's speech, as claimed by the MCA Youth head, Khairy replied: "No... ehhh... we are getting it."

He nevertheless commented in general that the youth wings of the two parties have no problem in working together and he appreciated Chan's call to enhance their cooperation.

Immediately after Khairy's brief chat with the media, he returned to the VIP guest room and was overheard asking what Liow had said in his speech such as the remark on the keris .

Explaining, the MCA Youth chief was heard responding that he only informed the delegates on "what had happened".

At this juncture, a MCA official immediately delivered a copy of the translated Bahasa Malaysia speech to Khairy, which was taken by an Umno Youth member. The brief encounter was believed to end in an atmosphere of embarrassment.

Liow's explanation

In his press conference earlier, Liow ( left ) explained that he did not make the criticisms selectively in his tri-lingual speech.

He said there is no need to repeat the entire speech in two languages as he has prepared a written translated version to be distributed to the non-Mandarin speaking guests and the media.

In Liow's speech delivered in Bahasa Malaysia earlier, he also praised Hishammuddin who is Umno Youth chief and education minister for approving a RM14 million allocation for Chinese schools under the MCA Youth school programme.