YOURSAY | ‘If Khairy had any principles, he would have left Umno long ago.’

COMMENT | Khairy Jamaluddin should get your vote

MS: Seriously Commander (Rtd) of the Royal Malaysian Navy S Thayaparan, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin represents everything that is wrong with this country's majority - the huge, privileged segment that would rather play safe, look the other way and not speak up as scandal after scandal erupts as billions get siphoned off and as crookedness continues to seep into every nook of the administration.

But that aside, I hold him directly and personally responsible for the RM360 million MySejahtera ‘scam’ for refusing to disclose the details he knows, only to save himself for another day. To claim that he has no idea how it all happened is a bit of a stretch.

He is as conniving and self-serving as former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and the worst of the blackguards hosted by the party.

You must be out of your mind to think that a man without the moral backbone to speak truth to power is deserving of public support just because the one put up by PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim is a dubious choice as well.

(And by the way, incumbent Sungai Buloh MP Sivarasa Rasiah did not readily and happily agree with Anwar’s veto of the selection committee's decision. He did so with great reluctance).

Kilimanjaro: Maybe the retired commander has forgotten the trigger Khairy was during a fiery turbulent period on his comments about the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Icerd) and the frenzy he ignited?

This is the real Khairy. Even the loose-cannon, Umno veteran Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, despite his tirades, had more than once talked in favour of the non-Malays. He was the first minister who talked about accepting non-Malays into matriculation colleges while in office.

I cannot recall anything at all that Khairy has stood up for multiracial Malaysia when it mattered.

People appreciate him, and I do appreciate a job well done. That was Khairy as the health minister. We are now talking about Khairy, the Umno man.

Inevitably, and I stress this, a vote for Khairy is a vote for Umno, and I don't want Umno back in power. Period.

Ruslan Bahari: You can vote for Khairy if you believe that his party can change Malaysia for the better. If you don't believe so, then vote for someone else.

You can argue he is a good health minister, but a leader is only as good as his team. His team works for him. So, while I will concede he did decent work as health minister, it was not all him.

This is the man who, despite knowing what Najib did, found it in him to star in a video with the felon to promote Umno and BN as the choice for the 14th general election. That mamak shop scene is etched on my mind as what Khairy is all about.

Politicians need to dispense with their leaders or party if they are corrupt. Khairy staying in Umno means he believes that Umno is okay.

Bravemalaysian: Is KJ all that good? Remember the “fourth-floor boys”, and how they ran riot during former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's time?

What about the extremely high price we paid for the Covid-19 vaccines? And why was there inordinate delay causing many deaths? What about the MySejahtera app which the government paid huge amounts of money?

Did Khairy do a good job? Frankly, the vaccination success is due mainly to the rakyat's willingness to be vaccinated and credit should go to them.

Meanwhile, instead of using schools for vaccination, since schools are not in use by students, thus making access easy, Khairy chose to rent expensive places (wonder why?) where there were big crowds and often confusion reigned. Did he do a good job? Definitely not!

But he carried himself very well compared to his predecessor, Dr Adham Baba. He is a more polished politician, but right now we are looking at the numbers to pick the right prime minister.

A vote for Khairy is a vote for the corrupt BN and Zahid and caretaker prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Gerard Lourdesamy: Indeed, a vote for Khairy is a vote for Umno with the likes of Zahid and Najib. If Khairy had any principles, he would have left Umno long ago.

Voters do not owe Khairy a living or a future in politics. The man is not a saint. Why is he so reluctant to declare his assets now?

Even if Khairy loses and BN wins, Khairy will be made a senator and brought into the government. If Harapan wins, the same can be done, but Khairy will have to quit Umno first.

Khairy is not a reformist but a conformist. He will never reject Ketuanan Melayu and the excesses of Umno. He is body and soul part of Umno.

PW Cheng: KJ "shines" because, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is the king. To me, Khairy is doing what he is being paid and tasked to do.

Thayaparan, you put him on a high pedestal because his predecessor was utterly incompetent and it's unfortunate that you and probably most Malaysians have been conditioned that mediocre performance is the norm and anything better is par excellence.

Remember when one minister was shouting that we had one of the best education systems in the world when his figment of imagination was probably plucked from one instance of euphoria from a local institute of education?

Truth be told, in a country where meritocracy reigns, the "shine" from Khairy will not be noticed.

YellowRusa5552: When there is drought, we pray for rain. When a country goes into financial despair, we pray for good governance and deliverance from the corrupted people who run the country.

However, from that bunch of corrupted crooks, there is a small light shining from afar. But what can that small shining light do?

Reaching out to that little shining light may just work to muddle up the people's hope and aspiration for a country free from corruption. My vote is still with Harapan because I am unfazed by that small shining light.

The above is a selection of comments posted by Malaysiakini subscribers. Only paying subscribers can post comments. In the past year, Malaysiakinians have posted over 100,000 comments. Join the Malaysiakini community and help set the news agenda. Subscribe now.

These comments are compiled to reflect the views of Malaysiakini subscribers on matters of public interest. Malaysiakini does not intend to represent these views as fact.