Khairy joins in Perikatan campaign in Jeram to back former Umno Youth colleague

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 — Former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar was witnessed on the campaign trail for Perikatan Nasional's (PN) Jeram candidate in Puncak Alam yesterday.

Khairy could be seen spending time with Datuk Harrison Hassan during a meet-and-greet session with the voters in several TikTok videos, saying the candidate would be the right person to represent the constituency.

"Don’t misquote me. Why? Because I know him for more than 20 years and we both entered Umno together. He was the Umno Youth working secretary and I was the Umno Youth exco at that time.

"I always knew he would go further in politics. In politics you need luck. I have contested three times, and Harrison had never contested. We both are near our 50s now. But I believe this is the right time for him to contest,” he said in one of the videos.

Khairy also praised Harrison's leadership, citing his experience, knowledge and hardworking behaviour.

"Harrison is also a realistic person. He won’t make fake promises and will solve issues and problems faced by voters in due time,” said Khairy.

Meanwhile, Harrison thanked Khairy in a Facebook post for showing his support.

Harisson, who is the former Sungai Buloh Umno deputy chief, was sacked from the party after he was announced as a PN candidate for the Jeram state seat.

Harrison will be contesting against the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datuk Jahaya Ibrahim in a one-on-one fight.

In June, Khairy was reported to have given his backing to PN for the upcoming state elections after a meeting with the coalition’s chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

In January, Khairy and several senior leaders were sacked from Umno for violating party rules, such as contesting as independent candidates and helping Opposition candidates during the general election (GE15) that previous November.