KJ aspires to become PM but not obsessed with 'lifelong ambition'

As someone who challenged Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the Umno presidency in 2018, former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that while he still harbours ambitions of becoming prime minister, he is no longer fixated on this “lifelong ambition”.

Being Umno president is typically viewed as a path to the premiership, and Khairy once considered not achieving this as a personal failure.

However, three years out in the political wilderness have since changed his perspective.

“It has been a lifetime ambition for me to be in a position of leadership in politics, and being the prime minister is the best position, simply because you can do the most and help the most.

“I always felt that I would not be a success in life if I didn’t become the prime minister.

“Now, I feel it is okay if I don’t become the prime minister. I will not see myself as a failure, and still be enough as a person,” he told Malay Mail in a recent interview.

Khairy also said that while he remains open to the idea of becoming prime minister, he is "not here anymore to go quickly to the job”.

In March, Khairy submitted an appeal to rejoin Umno, three years after the party expelled the former Rembau MP.

The application was submitted to Zahid, with the latter saying that Khairy’s appeal exemplified Umno’s “Rumah Bangsa” initiative, which is aimed at forming a big umbrella for Malay-Muslim politicians.

Under the initiative, Zahid said Umno would open the door for individuals or groups that had previously left or been expelled from the party to return to the fold.

Following his readmission, Khairy expressed his appreciation to Zahid for accepting him back into his "old and only house", adding that the Umno president did not attach any conditions for his return.

Time to reflect

After getting sacked from Umno in 2023, Khairy said he had pondered “long and hard” about setting up his own political party, but chose not to do so for the sake of Malay unity.

He explained that launching his own party would have further fragmented the Malay voter base, which was already split four ways between Umno, PAS, Amanah, and Pejuang.

He also pointed out that new parties would have little impact in the next one or two elections.

In his view, forming a new party was only sensible under two conditions: when one has enough time to build it properly from the ground up, or there is no existing party that reflects one's political beliefs or offers a viable platform.

Khairy said that neither of these conditions applied to him.

“It’s not because I cannot do it. It’s because I looked around and I said, there is a natural home for me.

“Why should I set up something new when there’s a natural home for me?” he asked.

Bold reforms for Umno

However, Khairy said he would not dilute his push for reforms within Umno, and instead pursue them more cautiously and without crossing the party’s red lines.

He acknowledged that his previous urgency to drive reform had caused unease among the party’s leadership.

“Changing the party was conflated with changing the people.

“Umno is a political party, and when you make certain moves, it upsets people, and I think I was not respectful of that.

“I could have maybe thought it through on how to do it without being seen as personally motivated against certain people,” he added.

Khairy stressed that the party is now ready for reforms, pointing to leaders such as Umno vice-president Johari Abdul Ghani, who has urged members to move beyond nostalgia, “denial syndrome”, and focus on rebuilding the party.

“In Zahid’s speech (at Umno’s 80th anniversary celebrations), he was very magnanimous in the sense that he said mistakes were made on both sides.

“When he said that, I felt that this is a president and a leader of a once great party who wants to make changes so that it can become a great party again," Khairy added.

The former minister advocated for bold, reform-minded leadership, even if it carries political risk, to unlock Malaysia’s full potential.

“In my view, Malaysia is a slightly ‘under-performing student’ for reasons of its own making.

“If it gets over itself, there is nothing that can stop this country, apart from its physical limitations.

“We have to risk some political capital to re-punch our weight, which we are not doing now, but it can be done,” he added.

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