Umno Youth is not dismayed by its leader, Khairy Jamaluddin's exclusion from the second cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Najib Razak as claimed by the opposition.

Umno Youth vice-chief Razali Ibrahim said the revamp involved only the MCA, MIC, the People's Progressive Party and the Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP).

"But the opposition made it out as if Khairy was ignored. It is funny and clearly showed a lack of political maturity on their part by trying to distort facts to mislead the people.

"We do not feel nothing... It is the prerogative of the prime minister to appoint anyone in the reshuffle," he told reporters after closing the Pengkalan Chepa Kite Festival at Kampung Sering in Kota Bharu today.

Razali, who is deputy youth and sports minister, was commenting on reports in a number of websites which questioned why Khairy, who is member of parliament for Rembau, was left out in the recent reshuffle.

SMS humanitarian campaign     

On the Israeli commandos raid on an aid-carrying ship, Razali said Umno Youth would launch a short messaging service (SMS) campaign with each SMS costing 50 sen.

 

He said proceeds from the campaign would be donated to a humanitarian fund to assist the oppressed Palestinians.

On the kite festival, he said the Youth and Sports Ministry would cooperate with the Tourism Ministry and the Information Communication and Culture Ministry to promote Malay traditional games such as kite flying and congkak to the international stage.

He said the move would make the games flourish at the grassroots level and become a source of income for local communities.

- Bernama