Khairy Jamaluddin

Khairy bin Jamaluddin (Jawi: خيري بن جمال الدين; born 10 January 1976), commonly known as Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar or KJ, is a Malaysian politician, and currently serving as Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation since 10 March 2020. A member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, he also served as the federal Minister of Youth and Sports from May 2013 to May 2018. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Rembau in Negeri Sembilan since 2008 and was the Chief of UMNO's youth wing from 2009 to 2018.

In this Malay name, there is no family name. The name Jamaluddin is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Khairy.
Yang Berhormat Tuan Haji

Khairy Jamaluddin

MP
Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation
Assumed office
10 March 2020
MonarchAbdullah
Prime MinisterMuhyiddin Yassin
DeputyAhmad Amzad Hashim
Preceded byYeo Bee Yin as Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Energy and Climate Change
ConstituencyRembau
Minister of Youth and Sports
In office
16 May 2013 – 10 May 2018
MonarchAbdul Halim
Muhammad V
Prime MinisterNajib Razak
DeputySaravanan Murugan
Preceded byAhmad Shabery Cheek
Succeeded bySyed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman
ConstituencyRembau
Youth Chief of United Malay National Organisation
In office
26 March 2009 – 25 June 2018
PresidentNajib Razak
DeputyRazali Ibrahim (2009–2013)
Khairul Azwan Harun (2013–2018)
Preceded byHishammuddin Hussein
Succeeded byAsyraf Wajdi Dusuki
ConstituencyRembau
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Rembau
Assumed office
8 March 2008
Preceded byFirdaus Muhammad Rom Harun (UMNO—BN)
Majority5,746 (2008)
18,357 (2013)
4,368 (2018)
Personal details
Born
Khairy Jamaluddin

(1976-01-10) 10 January 1976
Kuwait City, Kuwait
CitizenshipMalaysian
Political partyUnited Malay National Organisation (UMNO)
Other political
affiliations		Barisan Nasional (BN)
Perikatan Nasional (PN)
Muafakat Nasional (MN)
Spouse(s)Nori Abdullah
RelationsAbdullah Ahmad Badawi (father in law)
ChildrenJibreil Ali
Timor Abdullah
Raif Averroes
ParentsJamaluddin Abu Bakar
Rahmah Abdul Hamid
Alma materSt Hugh’s College, Oxford
University College London
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionJournalist
Signature
Websitewww.rembau.net.my www.kj.my
Military service
Allegiance Malaysia
Yang di-Pertuan Agong
Branch/service Malaysian Army
Territorial Army Regiment
Years of service2010–2018
Rank Brigadier General
UnitRejimen AW 508
Sports career
CountryMalaysia
SportPolo
Medal record
Polo
Representing  Malaysia
Southeast Asian Games
2017 Kuala LumpurTeam
Khairy Jamaluddin on Facebook
Khairy Jamaluddin on Parliament of Malaysia

He is the son-in-law of the fifth Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Personal background

Khairy is the only son of a former diplomat, Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, and Rahmah Abdul Hamid. Khairy's late father, Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, was a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, retiring as the Malaysian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Dato' Jamaluddin died of throat cancer. Khairy's mother, Rahmah Abdul Hamid, has been heavily involved in volunteer work throughout her life. Khairy's grandfather, Abu Bakar, was a community leader in Kota, Rembau.

Khairy was born in Kuwait City, Kuwait. He had his secondary education at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore, and his university education at Oxford University and University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom. While at Oxford, he studied at St Hugh's College, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE). In 1998, he completed his master's degree in Legal and Political Theory at UCL.

After leaving university, Khairy worked as a journalist for a period. He served as a presenter on the talkshow Dateline Malaysia. He also had a stint working for The Economist in 1999. Thereafter, Khairy became a Special Officer in the office of Abdullah Badawi, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was Abdullah's Deputy Principal Private Secretary from 2003–04.

In October 2001, Khairy married Abdullah's daughter Nori Abdullah. The couple have three sons, Jibreil Ali (born 2007), Timor Abdullah (born 2008) and Raif Averroes (born 2015).

Political career

UMNO Youth and ministerial officer

Under the prime ministership of his father-in-law (2003–2009), Khairy rose to prominence within UMNO and Malaysian politics generally. He became the deputy chief of UMNO's youth wing and served as a close personal adviser to Abdullah. Khairy's perceived influence on Abdullah made both men a target for criticism, including from Abdullah's predecessor Mahathir Mohamad.[1] On this allegation, Khairy replied that "I am a pretty easy scapegoat. [But] the decisions Dr. Mahathir is unhappy with are entirely made by the Prime Minister and the cabinet."[1]

He was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He has written for major publications including The Economist, Time and the Wall Street Journal.

He became closely involved in football during his pre-parliamentary career. He holds a number of high-profile positions in the Malaysian football scene, and is involved in a number of football-related associations. In 2006, Khairy teamed-up with radio DJ Jason Lo (with whom he attended high school in Singapore) to produce the football-based reality TV show MyTeam.[2]

On 9 September 2007, Khairy was chosen uncontested as the Vice-President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) during the 44th FAM Congress, to serve from 2007 to 2010, replacing Tengku Mahkota Pahang then, Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.[3]

Election to Parliament

In the 2008 general election, Khairy was elected to the federal Parliament for the seat of Rembau in the state of Negeri Sembilan. The following year he was elected as the Chief of UMNO Youth, defeating Khir Toyo and Mukhriz Mahathir[4]

In his first term in parliament, Khairy involved himself in contentious policy debates. He expressed his view that Malaysia should repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and abolish the annual Home Ministry licensing requirement, through the creation of an independent body which will enforce a self-regulatory mechanism of the system similar to the United Kingdom's Press Complaints Commission.[5] He also spoke against the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's blocking of the popular and often anti-government website Malaysia Today, citing that the move was a "blatant and crude employment of state power" and "is inconsistent with the widening roads of democratic highways."[6] He also called for an end to the Mahathir-era policy of teaching science and maths in English.[7] In September 2008, Khairy called for the reversal of the policy, citing that the policy had failed and only caused burden to students.[8] He regularly debated non-government and opposition figures in public, including Ambiga Sreenevasan on the transparency of the Election Commission of Malaysia (EC),[9] and senior Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader, and close Anwar Ibrahim ally, Rafizi Ramli on higher education loans.[10]

Ministerial career

After retaining his parliamentary seat in the 2013 general election, Prime Minister Najib Razak elevated Khairy to the Cabinet as Minister for Youth and Sports.[11] Later in 2013 he was re-elected to the presidency of UMNO Youth.[12]

During his ministerial post, Malaysia successfully hosted the 2017 SEA Games and emerged the over all gold medals tally winner.[13] Just before the 2018 general election (GE14), Khairy and his ministry was put in-charge of Najib's launched Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) concept but it had somehow fallen through due to the GE14 results which saw the downfall of BN federal government.[14][15]

On 18 November 2020, Khairy in his capacity as Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation signed an agreement with Chinese Science and Technology Minister Wang Zhigang for Malaysia to be given priority access to COVID-19 vaccines developed in China.[16]

Territorial Army involvement

In 2010, Khairy joined the Rejimen Askar Wataniah or Territorial Army as a reservist after completing one month of basics recruit training in Negeri Sembilan and Johor in May 2010.[17] He then completed a five-week basic static parachuting course conducted by the army's Special Warfare Centre with 78 others to earn his paratrooper jump wings in February 2011.[18] In January 2014, he was appointed as the Commander of the Territorial Army's 508 Regiment located in Rasah, Negeri Sembilan.[19] On 26 October 2016, Khairy was elevated from the rank of 'Colonel' to 'Brigadier-General' effective 14 Jan 2015.[20] This makes him the first Cabinet minister to be awarded a military rank after going through various courses organised by the Territorial Army, and he continues to lead the 508 Territorial Army Regiment until his resignation in 2018 after the GE14 quoting his presence was no longer welcomed.[21][22]

Controversies and issues

Khairy was alleged to be running the country government through his control of the ‘Fourth Floor Boys’ – a group of young professionals who manned the policy-making unit of the PM’s office when his father-in-law Abdullah was Prime Minister between 2004 and 2009. Khairy amidst then was a political novice with no experience in government himself even held the posts of ‘special officer’ and Deputy Principal Private Secretary (2003-2004) in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).[1][23]

After resigning from the PMO in 2004, Khairy joined a merchant bank, ECM Libra. In 2005, one year after Abdullah became prime minister, Khairy helped in the merger between ECM Libra Capital Bhd and the Malaysian government-owned Avenue Capital Resources Bhd. A year later in 2006, the three founding members of ECM Libra – Lim Kian Onn, Kalimullah Masheerul Hassan, and David Chua – announced that they were each selling 1% of the company shares they owned to Khairy. The deal was transacted at 71 cents per share for a total of approximately US$2.6 million where Khairy was able to finance it through a soft loan from the founders.[23]

In 2016, Khairy was slammed over his responsibility as he embroiled in the controversy surrounding the RM100 million corruption scandal plaguing the Youth and Sports Ministry he led when a senior official who had allegedly to have covertly siphoned off the ministry’s funds and lived a lavish lifestyle over the past six years was arrested by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).[24][25][26]

Khairy controversially competed for the Malaysian polo team at the 2017 Kuala Lumpur SEA Games even though the team secured a gold medal in the men's team polo event winning over Thailand.[27][28] Somehow his credibility and contribution of the national polo team were questioned and had raised the dissatisfaction from Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar[29] who even challenged him to play against his Johor state polo team.[30][31] The event had led to Khairy seeking and granted an audience with the sultan at the palace.[32]

Election results
Parliament of Malaysia: P131 Rembau, Negeri Sembilan[33][34][35][36][37]
Year Votes Pct Opponent(s) Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
2008 Khairy Jamaluddin (UMNO) 26,525 55.47% Badrul Hisham Shaharin (PKR) 20,779 43.46% 48,901 5,746 77.75%
2013 Khairy Jamaluddin (UMNO) 43,053 63.01% Radzali A. Ghani (PKR) 24,696 36.15% 69,538 18,357 87.29%
Abdul Aziz Hassan (IND) 325 0.48%
2018 Khairy Jamaluddin (UMNO) 36,096 48.87% Roseli Abdul Gani (PKR) 31,732 42.96% 73,856 4,368 83.58%
Mustafa Dolah (PAS) 6,028 8.16%

See also

References
  1. Beech, Hannah (30 October 2006). Not the Retiring Type (page three). TIME.
  2. MyTeam Official Website Archived 21 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "Khairy Antara Lima Muka Baru Terajui FAM" (in Malay). Bernama. 9 September 2007. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
  4. "Khairy Calls On Umno Youth To Close Ranks". Bernama. 25 March 2009. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  5. The Star. Umno Youth deputy chief all for repealing Press Act 11 May 2008.
  6. The Star. Khairy disagrees with blocking of news portal 31 August 2008.
  7. BERNAMA. 20 January 2006. Archived 14 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  8. TEACHING OF SCIENCE AND MATHS IN ENGLISH: It's high time we ditched this policy Archived 25 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine New Straits Times 9 September 2008.
  9. Free Malaysia Today Khairy vs Ambiga: a heated affair Archived 30 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 21 August 2012.
  10. The Star Online Khairy: Weak Umno bad for Barisan 21 August 2006.
  11. "Khairy Jamaluddin New Youth And Sports Minister". Bernama. 16 May 2013. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  12. "Winners and losers in Umno polls". The Malaysian Insider. 20 October 2013. Archived from the original on 24 October 2014. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
  13. "Malaysia creates history, records achievements in KL Sea Games - Salleh". Bernama. New Straits Times. 28 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  14. "TN50 a good long-term plan". The Star Online. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  15. KAMLES KUMAR (8 June 2017). "Khairy: My own TN50 aspiration is a future-proof Malaysia". The Malay Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  16. Babulal, Veena (18 November 2020). "Malaysia, China ink agreement for vaccine access". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 18 November 2020. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
  17. The Malaysian Insider.Khairy signs up as Territorial Army reservist Archived 10 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine 25 May 2010.
  18. "Khairy earns his paratrooper jump wings". The New Straits Times. 18 February 2011. Archived from the original on 19 February 2011. Retrieved 25 August 2018.
  19. Khairy Komander Rejimen 508 Askar Wataniah Yang Baharu Bernama 16 February 2014
  20. Astro Awani Khairy Jamaluddin made Askar Wataniah Brigadier General 26 October 2016
  21. Ahmad Suhael Adnan (15 August 2018). "Khairy resigns as commander of Territorial Army's 508 Regiment". New Straits Times. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  22. Ahmad Suhael Adnan (15 August 2018). "Lebih baik saya undur diri - KJ". Dailymotion (in Malay). MSN. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  23. Greg Lopez (October 2015). "'Mr Clean': Just how honest was Malaysia's 'ethical leader'?". Asian Correspondent. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  24. KAMLES KUMAR (22 March 2016). "Khairy accepts full responsibility for RM100m graft scandal". The Malay Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  25. "Khairy takes full responsibility for RM100m scandal". Free Malaysia Today. 22 March 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  26. "Luxury cars and handbags: Scandal ensnares Malaysia's Sports Ministry". Asian Correspondent. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  27. "Khairy says deputy's remarks led to Sea Games polo win". The Star. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  28. "Malaysia wins gold in polo, with Khairy part of team". The Malay Mail. Bernama. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
  29. "Johor Sultan slams Khairy, calls for polo match". The Malay Mail. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  30. "'If you're a man, play against Johor team' – Sultan's polo dare". Malaysiakini. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  31. "SEA Games: Put up or shut up! Johor Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar issues polo challenge to Khairy Jamaluddin and team". AFP. The Straits Times. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  32. "Johor sultan grants audience to KJ a day after polo dare". Malaysiakini. 25 August 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  33. "P131: Rembau". Utusan. Retrieved 24 October 2014. Percentages are votes received as a percentage of total turnout. Votes for independent and third party candidates are not listed.
  34. "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri" (in Malay). Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 4 February 2017. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
  35. "Malaysia General Election". undiinfo Malaysian Election Data. Malaysiakini. Retrieved 4 February 2017. Results only available from the 2004 election.
  36. "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pilihan Raya Umum (in Malay). Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  37. "Federal Government Gazette, Results of Contested Election Parliamentary Constituencies for the State of Negeri Sembilan" (PDF). Election Commission. Retrieved 15 June 2018. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
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