Khairy Jamaluddin In Damage Control Mode After Umno Youth Speech.
The whole hoo-haa started after Khairy made a speech in Kedah last Friday where he made some ill-thought out remarks that the Chinese community would capitalise on Umno's weaknesses.
Realising the uproar his speech had resulted in, as well as the implications and consequences of the reactions of MCA and Gerakan leaders to himself personally and more importantly the Prime Minister, he scrambled to limit the potential damage that could cause. Whether his father-in-law had pulled him up and cautioned him or urged him to sort out the matter is not known. First thing therefore was to announce that he will meet MCA Vice Chief Datuk Ling Hee Leong to clarify his speech which had upset a number of Barisan Nasional component party leaders.
Besides Ling, other leaders who voiced their displeasure over the remarks were MCA Vice President Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek, party Secretary General Dr Wee Ka Siong and Gerakan Vice Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
Explaining that the speech was meant to bolster Umno and not to tear the fabric of goodwill upheld by the BN component parties, he stressed on the spirit of consensus in BN and Umno as the backbone of BN had to be strong for the well-being of the coalition.
"What I said was that we must progress together, we need a strong Umno. We must accept that the strength of BN lies with Umno and Umno has to be strong for the good of BN. If Umno is not strong, some quarters might take advantage and affect the goodwill in BN, not the other kind of advantage. This was my message," he said.
However, he said, he had yet to find out the content of the reports in the Chinese press.
"I was informed only this morning. My message was clear, BN strength is derived from Umno. I hope other leaders understand this. The component parties need a strong Umno. I received a request (for a meeting) from Datuk Ling (Hee Leong), so I will see him soon," he said.
Khairy I'm sure is smart and politically savvy enough to know that any statement by him, however remotely controversial, can be misconstrued and in the process not only him but the PM is equally affected. He should therefore be more circumspect in the future when he makes a public speech. He surely knows that there must be dozens of his detractors out there waiting for him to make mistakes like this which they will use to his disadvantage.
While the tendency to get carried away, especially in the rabble-rousing atmosphere of an Umno Youth meeting is high, he should keep in check his emotions and to a certain extent even his personal and innermost opinions and feelings, lest it be manipulated to his detriment. He cannot afford to make more faux pas like this especially where the BN component parties are concerned. He already has enough enemies and vilifiers within and without Umno and the government. The last thing he needs now is to foolishly add on to this list.
He must remember that in the modern Malaysian context, the saying 'uneasy lies the head that wears the crown' applies equally to the son-in-law as well.
Realising the uproar his speech had resulted in, as well as the implications and consequences of the reactions of MCA and Gerakan leaders to himself personally and more importantly the Prime Minister, he scrambled to limit the potential damage that could cause. Whether his father-in-law had pulled him up and cautioned him or urged him to sort out the matter is not known. First thing therefore was to announce that he will meet MCA Vice Chief Datuk Ling Hee Leong to clarify his speech which had upset a number of Barisan Nasional component party leaders.
Besides Ling, other leaders who voiced their displeasure over the remarks were MCA Vice President Datuk Dr Chua Soi Lek, party Secretary General Dr Wee Ka Siong and Gerakan Vice Secretary Datuk Lee Kah Choon.
Explaining that the speech was meant to bolster Umno and not to tear the fabric of goodwill upheld by the BN component parties, he stressed on the spirit of consensus in BN and Umno as the backbone of BN had to be strong for the well-being of the coalition.
"What I said was that we must progress together, we need a strong Umno. We must accept that the strength of BN lies with Umno and Umno has to be strong for the good of BN. If Umno is not strong, some quarters might take advantage and affect the goodwill in BN, not the other kind of advantage. This was my message," he said.
However, he said, he had yet to find out the content of the reports in the Chinese press.
"I was informed only this morning. My message was clear, BN strength is derived from Umno. I hope other leaders understand this. The component parties need a strong Umno. I received a request (for a meeting) from Datuk Ling (Hee Leong), so I will see him soon," he said.
Khairy I'm sure is smart and politically savvy enough to know that any statement by him, however remotely controversial, can be misconstrued and in the process not only him but the PM is equally affected. He should therefore be more circumspect in the future when he makes a public speech. He surely knows that there must be dozens of his detractors out there waiting for him to make mistakes like this which they will use to his disadvantage.
While the tendency to get carried away, especially in the rabble-rousing atmosphere of an Umno Youth meeting is high, he should keep in check his emotions and to a certain extent even his personal and innermost opinions and feelings, lest it be manipulated to his detriment. He cannot afford to make more faux pas like this especially where the BN component parties are concerned. He already has enough enemies and vilifiers within and without Umno and the government. The last thing he needs now is to foolishly add on to this list.
He must remember that in the modern Malaysian context, the saying 'uneasy lies the head that wears the crown' applies equally to the son-in-law as well.
posted by The Malaysian. at 8/21/2006 12:50:00 PM
3 Comments:
There are people listening to him?
*yawn
Khairy might be a good politician but I'm not sure whether he thinks much before he speaks. Sometimes reading what he said I'm not sure whether he thinks at all. Recently he made some comments about Singapore depleting its land resources, its people moving to JB blah blah blah, refering to the South Johor Corridor. Thats the most absurd. That comes to show he does not know anything geopolitically. Singapore is trying to increase its birth rate, encouraging foreign talents to migrate in. Does that sound like a country thats running out of land? Nusajaya failed to take off 10 years ago, what makes him so sure the new initative will? My advice to Khairy is this: 'Take a day off and fly to Singapore and then judge for yourself how far behind you are.'By the way im a Malaysian. It disgust me when I see my political leaders speaks nonsense and give us Malaysian a bad name. It makes my blood boil when they take we Malaysians as a bunch of no brainers.
In reply to org-msia's concluding sentence - both Jung and freud. Jung because Khairy is coming across as a day dreamer and Jung has a lot to say about dreaming. Freud? Well, read up what the father of psycho-analysis has to say about id, ego and superego.
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