Khairy gained popularity by criticising Umno, says party division chief

SHAH ALAM - Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin has gained popularity by criticising the party that did him a great favour all this while, says Kepong Umno division chief.

Abdul Razak Abdul Rahman said Khairy should not have made such statements considering that he was a former leader of the party.

He said if it was true that Umno had slipped into a 'dark abyss', it was because of leaders like Khairy in the past.

"Khairy is aware that he is part of the reason why Umno experienced a decline in support, starting from his role as ‘budak tingkat 4’ (fourth floor boy) during Tun Abdullah Badawi's era where he was criticised severely by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad over his flip flop policy.

"Even when Datuk Seri Najib Razak was Umno president, Khairy as the Youth chief for two terms failed to attract support of youths,” he said in a statement yesterday.

He was commenting on Khairy's statement saying that the largest Malay party had slipped into a 'dark abyss' and that it would be difficult for it to recover.

"My advice to him (Khairy) is to reflect on himself and realise his past mistakes.

"When he dared to make criticisms non-stop, then he also needs to be prepared to be criticised and there will be no party that is willing to accept him if this annoying behaviour persists," he said.

He added that if Khairy wanted to prove himself of being great, the latter could continue his political career by establishing his own party.