PM Reiterates Khairy Has No Influence On Him

KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi today reiterated strongly that Khairy Jamaluddin had never been an influence in whatever he has done or decision he has made.

"Khairy is not an influence in whatever I do. He's the Umno Youth vice-head, and he has his idea about anything.

"There may be some coincidence that he speaks about the same policy and not because the policy is what he has promoted, it's a policy of the government," the Prime Minister told newsmen at the Umno Headquarters, here.

He added that as an Umno member, it was a duty for Khairy to know policies of the government and talk about it.

"It doesn't mean that when we talk about the policy, it means that it's the policy he suggested," he said when commenting on a statement made by his predecessor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday alleging that Khairy was responsible for the major defeat suffered by Barisan Nasional (BN) in the just-concluded general election.

The Umno president said what happened to Khairy was due to the misperception based on the fact that the latter was the son-in-law of the Prime Minister.

"He's not the one who says `Babah (daddy), please accept this and I (Abdullah) accept it, and this one you (Abdullah) must do. He doesn't do that.

"This is a perception, I think it's a wrong perception and I pity Khairy for that kind of perception that happened on his goal, and his relationship with me as son-in-law and father-in-law," he said. The Prime Minister said Khairy was a person who spoke openly and had actively voiced out his opinion as many had heard during the Umno general assembly. "Anybody is free to give opinions, anybody is free to give views, and Khairy, like anybody else, speaks openly and statements do come out in the Press," said Abdullah.

-- BERNAMA