KUALA LUMPUR: While Umno suffered a crushing defeat in the 14th General Election (GE14) which saw many big names losing their parliamentary and state seats, Khairy Jamaluddin was among those who managed to retain his MP status by winning Rembau.
When Barisan Nasional (BN) was the federal government, Khairy was the Youth and Sports Minister but the coalition's loss meant that he too had lost his Cabinet post.
Khairy was the Umno Youth chief but announced he would not retain the post and the party's election last week saw Dr Asyraf Wajdi succeeding him for the post.
He then put his name in the hat for the Umno president's post and tonight, Khairy who was seen as a favourite to reform Umno based on his age and ideas lost to Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
This means the Rembau MP, after a stint in Cabinet and having led Umno Youth is left only with the position of Deputy Rembau Umno chief.
Taking to his Twitter account, Khairy said he accepted tonight's result with an open heart.
"God willing the new Umno leadership can return the rakyat's confidence in our party. Do a total revamp. Prove that Umno can change for the better," he said.
"I will continue to carry out my duties as MP and deputy Rembau Umno division chief to strengthen the party and bring Umno closer to the rakyat's heart," he added.
Khairy also congratulated Ahmad Zahid on the latter's win.
"Also to Tengku Razaleigh on entering the race as a statesman. Thank you to all the Umno delegates for successfully celebrating democracy in the party," Khairy said, referring to fellow contender in the presidential race, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
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