KHAIRY Jamaluddin should focus on winning the Sungai Buloh seat and talk about his prime ministerial ambitions later, Johari Abdul Ghani said.

The Umno Supreme Council member said the focus now should be on winning as many of the 222 seats up for grabs in the 15th general election.

Johari said winning the polls was not the job of a single individual and Barisan Nasional (BN) should move collectively as a team in this quest to capture as many seats as possible.

He said BN needs to form a government with lawmakers who had the capability and credibility, able to work together and revive the country’s economy.

“If there is support for him (Khairy to become prime minister) why not? There is no problem.

“But we are not discussing the prime minister’s position now. We are talking about winning 222 parliamentary seats.  

“One person alone cannot do this. We need a team. Parliamentarians who have the same views, same talent and capabilities to develop the country,” he was quoted as saying by Berita Harian on the sidelines of the campaign for the Titiwangsa parliamentary seat today.

Yesterday Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the caretaker health minister’s ambition to become prime minister in future would depend on the next general election.

On Tuesday, while on the stump for votes in Sungai Buloh, Khairy had expressed his desire to become the prime minister in future and told voters at a ceramah that they would be rooting for a future prime minister if they helped him finish first in the ballot.

Khairy had been the Rembau MP for three terms but made way for Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan in this general election.

Khairy is facing Pakatan Harapan’s (PH) R. Ramanan, Perikatan Nasional’s Ghazali Hamin, Pejuang’s Akmal Yusoff, Parti Rakyat Malaysia’s Ahmad Zukri Faisal and two Independent candidates for the seat.

Incumbent R. Sivarasa, who had retained the seat for three terms for PH, was dropped due to health reasons. – November 10, 2022.