Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin said today he is moving in the same direction as his party’s top two leaders in pushing for a more progressive Umno.

He drew parallels between his own policy speech for the Youth wing and those of party president Najib Abdul Razak this morning and deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin while opening the Umno wings’ annual general meetings, saying they all agree on the need for Malays to move forward on their own steam.

NONE “I think the policy speeches this year, starting from the deputy president, then me, and then the president, are on the same path,” he said at a press conference after the official opening of the central Umno annual general meeting this morning.

“We need to ensure that even if we fight for the Malays, we also take care of all Malaysians, and we also challenge the Malays to become successful on their own strengths.”

Commenting on Najib’s policy speech this morning, Khairy ( left ) said the party president and Prime Minister made it clear that the Malays should put to rest any fear of losing their special rights as enshrined in the constitution as it would not be easy to remove those rights.

“What the president is trying to stress is that we should not waste time talking about these issues, chasing after imagined enemies and being afraid of shadows. The reassurance he gave is that all these things we fear being challenged cannot be easily changed.

“If you want to change article 153 of the constitution (which outlines bumiputera rights), it will take two-thirds (of parliament) and the consent of the rulers, and they are definitely not going to change anything.

“He is saying, let’s move away from all this debate, which is unproductive and academic, and focus on the real issue, which is to work hard for the Malays, the non-Malays, and look after this country,” he said.

End debate

NONE Earlier this morning, Najib called for an end to divisive racial debates while assuring that the special position of the Malays can only be changed with the consent of the rulers.

He said that the way society was constructed in Malaysia was based on the social contract agreed to by the country’s founding fathers, and that the contract cannot be reneged.

Najib added that racial debates, especially on post-independence citizenship and the special position of the Malays, were academic as Malay rights are protected by the federal constitution.

Khairy warns of Umno losing power