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KJ guns for Umno top post; Zahid not backing down; Harapan told to ditch support letters

KINI ROUNDUP | Here are the key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

KJ guns for Umno top post

Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, in a surprise announcement, said he will be gunning for the position of Umno president in the coming party election.

Khairy admitted that he had encouraged Umno veteran Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to join the race for the presidency and only decided to join the fray himself at the last minute.

His political secretary Megat Firdouz Megat Junid denied Khairy's move was to help Zahid by splitting the votes of his opponents.

Khairy said he hopes to free Umno from the clutches of party warlords and chart a path for the party that is free from racism and sexism.

Zahid not backing down

Acting Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said he will not back down from the party presidency race even though Khairy and Tengku Razaleigh were joining the contest.

Umno supreme council member Nazri Abdul Aziz, who is backing Zahid, said he had no qualms about Khairy wanting to rid of warlords but admitted that he himself is a warlord.

In total, seven aspiring candidates filed their papers for the Umno president contest but whether all qualify will only be known later today.

Umno said the open contest in this party election was a reversal of the no-contest culture sowed when Dr Mahathir Mohamad led the party.

Harapan urged to ditch support letters

Bersatu Youth chief Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman said the practice of politicians issuing support letters to influence decisions of the civil service must stop.

Bersatu Youth said it has referred leaders involved in the DBKL Ramadan bazaar scandal to the disciplinary committee.

DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang stressed that the new Pakatan Harapan government must perform better than BN or risk becoming a one-term government.

Other Kinibites

Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and wife Rosmah Mansor, who have been barred from leaving the country, have gone to holiday in Langkawi.

Parti Rakyat Sarawak president James Masing said the new state-based coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak should not see any one party dominating the state seats in Sarawak.

Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin promised that the police and Immigration Department will be revamped.

A flight attendant defended Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu against allegations that he used a government helicopter for a family Raya trip, stating that the claim was baseless and the minister had boarded a commercial flight on that day.

Education Minister Maszlee Malik promised that the government will supply diesel to rural schools in Sarawak that do not have electricity supply after the diesel supplier appointed by the previous government failed to do so.

Looking ahead

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be meeting with Alibaba executive chairperson Jack Ma in the morning.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be receiving the Japanese ambassador to Malaysia at her Putrajaya office.

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