GERAKAN has invited Khairy Jamaluddin to join the party following his sacking from Umno yesterday.

Acting Gerakan Youth chief Wong Chia Zhen said the former health minister would be a perfect fit for the multi-racial party, which is part of Perikatan Nasional.

“Although Khairy had played up racial issues in the past when he was Umno Youth chief, we are willing to forgive him because we are all human, and we can make mistakes.

“I believe that Gerakan is the most suitable platform for Khairy at this time. We would welcome Khairy to join Gerakan as a member,” he said in a statement.

Wong also said Umno had made a wrong decision in sacking the former Rembau MP.

He said Khairy was a politician of calibre and had nearly succeeded in unseating Pakatan Harapan (PH) from its Sungai Buloh stronghold in the recent general election.

Umno yesterday sacked Khairy and veteran leader Noh Omar, who the party accused of working against its interests.

Concurrently, Sembrong MP Hishammuddin Hussein and incumbent deputy Umno Youth chief Shahril Hamdan Suffian were suspended for six years.

Also suspended were former Jempol MP Salim Sharif and former Tiram assemblyman Maulizan Bujang.

Khairy had been highly critical of Umno under Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s leadership recently.

He was unceremoniously shunted out of his Rembau seat to allow party deputy president Mohamad Hassan to stand in his place.

Khairy was given the tough seat of Sungai Buloh where he was beaten by PKR’s R. Ramanan by a majority of 2,693 votes.

During the recent Umno General Assembly, Khairy had also taunted Zahid to be ready to face challenges in the coming party polls.

However, the delegates voted overwhelmingly not to hold any contests for president or deputy president, which drew sharp criticism from Khairy.

Zahid said the party would take action against Khairy for working against the party’s interests.

Meanwhile, former New Straits Times group editor-in-chief Kalimullah Hassan said Khairy still had a future in politics despite his ejection from Umno.

The adviser to former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Khairy’s father-in-law also said that Umno has become irrelevant.

“After all, he’s only 47 years old. Dr Mahathir Mohamad was sacked (also by Umno) at 45 and became prime minister twice.

“Anwar Ibrahim was sacked by Umno at 50 and came back as prime minister 24 years later,” he said in a social media posting.

He said Khairy was Umno’s “great white hope”, adding that it was unlikely either Zahid or Mohamad would become prime minister one day.

“They are already too old, and weak,” he said. – January 28, 2023.