Khairy Jamaluddin has often been a primary target whenever former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad criticises the present government administration, headed by Khairy's father-in-law Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Today, Khairy light heartedly offered a possible explanation for the animosity.

"It's a love-hate relationship - I love him, but he hates me," quipped Khairy, to a question from the floor during the 2007 Kancil Awards, organised by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia, in Subang Jaya today.

According to Khairy, he had a chance meeting with Mahathir when the former was just 10-year-old.

Khairy's father, Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, was a diplomat at the time and both of them were at a dinner function which Mahathir had attended in London.

"I had met him before but never spoke to him. I was this sad kid who liked politics. So I went up to my mom and said 'I want to meet him'," said the Deputy Umno Youth chief.

His mother then persuaded a family friend to bring little Khairy to Mahathir where both of them shook hands.

"I think he expected a 10-year-old child to shake hands and go away lah. But then I stood there and he said: 'What do you want?'. So I said: 'Sir, can I ask you a question?'

"He said 'Ya'. So I said: 'How long more are you going to be prime minister?'. (Crowd burst out laughing). And I think it went downhill from there," he added.

Joining Umno

Based on Khairy's birth date, the meeting between the two would have been in 1986, five years after Mahathir became the premier.

Khairy was the first among six speakers at the function today which was attended by more than 300 members of the advertising industry.

During his speech, Khairy spoke of his experience in establishing football talent search MyTeam and his experience in rebranding Umno Youth.

Khairy said MyTeam was successful in rekindling interest in local football among fans and the corporate sector at a time when sponsorship and viewership were shifting to foreign football leagues.

He also said Umno Youth was in disarray after Anwar Ibrahim was sacked from Umno in 1998 as many key leaders left the movement.

"Umno lost a lot of members and traction among young people. Young people were seen on the streets during reformasi. It was the in-thing to do during reformasi," he said.

Khairy said he subsequently made a conscious decision to join Umno during the reformasi period, even though he agreed to some principles behind reformasi.

"As much as some of the themes of reformasi resonated with me as a young person - reforms, democracy, etc - I could not shake off the notion that it was there for the purpose of one man.

"I knew Umno needed a lot of change (at the time), but I thought I was better off changing that, than trying to pursue the chimera - the notion of democracy, justice and freedom ... actually they are talking about one man," he added.

Rebranding Umno Youth

Khairy said that at the time, his peers steered clear of Umno and rallied behind Anwar, but he joined the party and began helping Hishammuddin Hussein, who was then the deputy Umno Youth chief, to rebuild the movement.

He described Umno Youth as the ground workers for Umno and it was important for the movement to "stake their claim on the Malay youths".

"Malaysia's young were completely against us. So we engineered a comeback by thinking about stuff that would entice younger people - not just politics per se - it had to be something 'politics plus'," he explained.

Some of the strategies employed by Umno Youth to regain lost ground included:

  • Inventing new slogans and catchphrases
  • Appointment of young professionals in various Umno Youth bureau
  • Influencing university students to support Umno
  • Establishing Putera Umno
  • Internship programmes
  • Demonstration against Condoleezza Rice at KLCC

Khairy described the 18- to 25-year-old as an unserved mass market which Putera Umno wanted to tap on and comprehend. Among them, were the Mat Rempit's (illegal motorcycle racers).

Khairy said a Putera Umno programme to parachute 12 Mat Rempit's to the North Pole was crucial in proving that the movement could rehabilitate them.

"They stopped being Mat Rempit. They became motivated. Some got a job while other gone back to school. We knew we could change people and this resonated to the minds of the Malay masses.

"People then began to say that (Umno Youth) was doing something that was other than for themselves," he said.