BN would have lost Selangor even without broom incident – Khir Toyo

Summary

• Former MB Khir Toyo defends his controversial broom award, denying it caused BN’s 2008 defeat in Selangor and noting losses worsened under Najib’s leadership.

• He also calls out Umno leaders for their failure to take responsibility for past electoral defeats.

Former Selangor menteri besar Khir Toyo has defended “awarding” a state government official with a broom and rejected the notion that the incident has led to BN’s defeat in Selangor in 2008.

Khir claimed the decision to award the broom to underperforming local governments was made at a meeting involving local government officials.

In addition, he said BN has lost more seats to Pakatan Rakyat - and later Pakatan Harapan - after Najib Abdul Razak took over as Selangor Umno chief in 2009.

“The decision to give the broom as an award was made in a meeting with the officers.

“Those who failed to meet the minimum tax collection target – their offices would be awarded a broom, while those who met the target were rewarded with a study tour to help reduce arrears in their respective local governments.

“It must be remembered that in the same general election (in 2008), BN also lost in Kedah, Perak, Penang, and Terengganu. Selangor BN performed even worse when Najib became Selangor BN chairperson – from 21 seats down to 12 seats.

“Even without the broom, BN kept losing – from 12 down to six state seats. In the 15th state election (in 2023), with the help of DAP and PKR, Umno only won two seats,” he said in a Facebook post.

No more thorn in the flesh

Yesterday, Umno leaders criticised the former Sungai Panjang assemblyperson’s decision to join Bersatu, and brought up Khir’s broom gesture that they claimed contributed to BN’s downfall in the state.

Among others, Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Yunos sarcastically thanked Bersatu for accepting Khir into their party.

“I would like to thank Bersatu for opening their doors for this ‘broom’ guy.

“Now, Sungai Besar Umno no longer has a thorn (in its flesh),” he said in a Facebook post.

Khir confirmed that he has joined Bersatu effective July 1.

Speaking to Malaysiakini yesterday about his decision, Khir said it was because he no longer saw Umno as a dominant party in the country’s current political landscape.

Commenting further on the matter today, Khir criticised several Umno division leaders who did not resign after the party’s defeat, in contrast to his decision to step down and take responsibility for the defeat.

“Leaders today have lost in elections but still hold party posts,” he said.

Khir also quoted the Malay proverb “Tepuk air dalam dulang akhirnya muka sendiri yang basah, paku dulang paku serpih, mengata orang kita yang lebih”, which he used to suggest that some leaders, in criticising others, were in fact exposing their own faults – a case of hypocrisy backfiring.

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