FMT:
Zahid a consummate political operator, says KJ after reshuffle
Khairy Jamaluddin describes Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as displaying to his underlings how he is the ‘only constant’ in the party.
Khairy Jamaluddin (left) said Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had flexed his muscles by retaining his deputy prime minister’s post and maintaining the same portfolio in the Cabinet reshuffle.
PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin has described Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as a consummate political operator, claiming the deputy prime minister had a hand in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Besides shuffling Umno ministers around, Khairy claimed Zahid also flexed his muscles by retaining his deputy prime minister’s post and maintaining the same portfolio in the shakeup.
Khairy, who was sacked from Umno in January, described Zahid as displaying to his underlings how he is the “only constant in Umno”.
“Zahid is being the consummate political operator that he is. When he heard the prime minister would be reshuffling the Cabinet, he probably thought to himself: ‘This is my chance’.
“Zahid might have told others, although I have gone through surgery recently, I am in charge and I am not going anywhere. I can move people around, regardless of whether you are the (Umno) deputy president or vice-president. I will shuffle you around. The only constant is me.
“He kept people on their toes. It is another political masterclass from Zahid,” he said in an episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast with former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan.
Khairy was referring to the swap in portfolios between Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, vice-president Khaled Nordin and Supreme Council member Zambry Abdul Kadir.
Khaled had taken over from Mohamad as defence minister, while the latter was made foreign minister, a portfolio previously held by Zambry. In turn, Zambry was made higher education minister to replace Khaled.
Khairy said he was disappointed with a split of portfolios of two ministries; the natural resources, energy and climate change ministry and the communications and digital ministry.
He acknowledged that Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had performed well as the minister for natural resources, energy and climate change.
He said Nik Nazmi might find difficulty in effectively carrying out his duties now that the climate change portfolio was in someone else’s hands.
Khairy said the decision to split the communications and digital ministry was to retain Fahmi Fadzil in the Cabinet.
“It should have been a single ministry,” he said. “But PMX (a label used for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim) wanted to save Fahmi, so the ministry had to be split in two,” Khairy said.
The digital portion of the ministry is now under Damansara MP Gobind Singh Deo, who previously served as communications and multimedia minister from 2018 to 2020.
Khairy said Fahmi’s role as the official government spokesman was also troublesome, as he would be talking about matters related to other ministries that he might not be fully informed about.
FMT has contacted Fahmi for a response.
PETALING JAYA: Khairy Jamaluddin has described Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as a consummate political operator, claiming the deputy prime minister had a hand in the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Besides shuffling Umno ministers around, Khairy claimed Zahid also flexed his muscles by retaining his deputy prime minister’s post and maintaining the same portfolio in the shakeup.
Khairy, who was sacked from Umno in January, described Zahid as displaying to his underlings how he is the “only constant in Umno”.
“Zahid is being the consummate political operator that he is. When he heard the prime minister would be reshuffling the Cabinet, he probably thought to himself: ‘This is my chance’.
“Zahid might have told others, although I have gone through surgery recently, I am in charge and I am not going anywhere. I can move people around, regardless of whether you are the (Umno) deputy president or vice-president. I will shuffle you around. The only constant is me.
“He kept people on their toes. It is another political masterclass from Zahid,” he said in an episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast with former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan.
Khairy was referring to the swap in portfolios between Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan, vice-president Khaled Nordin and Supreme Council member Zambry Abdul Kadir.
Khaled had taken over from Mohamad as defence minister, while the latter was made foreign minister, a portfolio previously held by Zambry. In turn, Zambry was made higher education minister to replace Khaled.
Khairy said he was disappointed with a split of portfolios of two ministries; the natural resources, energy and climate change ministry and the communications and digital ministry.
He acknowledged that Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad had performed well as the minister for natural resources, energy and climate change.
He said Nik Nazmi might find difficulty in effectively carrying out his duties now that the climate change portfolio was in someone else’s hands.
Khairy said the decision to split the communications and digital ministry was to retain Fahmi Fadzil in the Cabinet.
“It should have been a single ministry,” he said. “But PMX (a label used for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim) wanted to save Fahmi, so the ministry had to be split in two,” Khairy said.
The digital portion of the ministry is now under Damansara MP Gobind Singh Deo, who previously served as communications and multimedia minister from 2018 to 2020.
Khairy said Fahmi’s role as the official government spokesman was also troublesome, as he would be talking about matters related to other ministries that he might not be fully informed about.
FMT has contacted Fahmi for a response.
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