Khairy Jamaluddin

Personal background

Khairy is the only son of former diplomat Dato' Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Dato' Rahmah Abdul Hamid. Khairy's late father, Datuk Jamaluddin Abu Bakar, was a senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, retiring as the Malaysian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Dato' Jamaluddin died of throat cancer. Khairy's mother, Dato' Rahmah Abdul Hamid, has been heavily involved in volunteer work throughout her life. Khairy's grandfather, Penghulu Abu Bakar, was a community leader in Kota, Rembau.

Khairy was born in Kuwait City, Kuwait. He had his secondary education at the United World College of South East Asia in Singapore, and his university education at Oxford University and University College London (UCL) in the United Kingdom. While at Oxford, he studied at St Hugh's College, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). In 1998, he completed his master's degree in Legal and Political Theory at UCL.

After leaving university, Khairy worked as a journalist for a period. He served as a presenter on the talkshow Dateline Malaysia. He also had a stint working for The Economist in 1999. Thereafter, Khairy became a Special Officer in the office of Abdullah Badawi, who was then the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was Abdullah's Deputy Principal Private Secretary from 2003–04.

In October 2001, Khairy married Abdullah's daughter Nori Abdullah. The couple have three sons, Jibreil Ali Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (born 2007), Timor Abdullah Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (born 2008) and Raif Averroes Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar (born 2015).

UMNO Youth and ministerial officer

Under the prime ministership of his father-in-law (2003–2009), Khairy rose to prominence within UMNO and Malaysian politics generally. He became the deputy chief of UMNO's youth wing and served as a close personal adviser to Abdullah. Khairy's perceived influence on Abdullah made both men a target for criticism, including from Abdullah's predecessor Mahathir Mohamad. On this allegation, Khairy replied that "I am a pretty easy scapegoat. [But] the decisions Dr. Mahathir is unhappy with are entirely made by the Prime Minister and the cabinet."

He was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He has written for major publications including The Economist, Time and the Wall Street Journal.

He became closely involved in football during his pre-parliamentary career. He holds a number of high-profile positions in the Malaysian football scene, and is involved in a number of football-related associations. In 2006, Khairy teamed-up with radio DJ Jason Lo (with whom he attended high school in Singapore) to produce the football-based reality TV show MyTeam.

On 9 September 2007, Khairy was chosen uncontested as the Vice-President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) during the 44th FAM Congress, to serve from 2007 to 2010, replacing Tengku Mahkota Pahang Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah.

Election to Parliament

In 2008, Khairy was elected to the federal Parliament for the seat of Rembau in the state of Negeri Sembilan. The following year he was elected as the President of UMNO Youth, defeating Khir Toyo and Mukhriz Mahathir

In his first term in parliament, Khairy involved himself in contentious policy debates. He expressed his view that Malaysia should repeal the Printing Presses and Publications Act, and abolish the annual Home Ministry licensing requirement, through the creation of an independent body which will enforce a self-regulatory mechanism of the system similar to the United Kingdom's Press Complaints Commission. He also spoke against the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission's blocking of the popular and often anti-government website Malaysia Today, citing that the move was a "blatant and crude employment of state power" and "is inconsistent with the widening roads of democratic highways." He also called for an end to the Mahathir-era policy of teaching science and maths in English. In September 2008, Khairy called for the reversal of the policy, citing that the policy had failed and only caused burden to students. He regularly debated non-government and opposition figures in public, including Ambiga Sreenevasan on the transparency of the Malaysian Election Commission, and senior Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) leader, and close Anwar Ibrahim ally, Rafizi Ramli on higher education loans.

In 2010, Khairy joined the Rejimen Askar Wataniah as a reservist after completing one month of training in Negeri Sembilan and Johor in May 2010. He then completed a five-week basic static parachuting course conducted by the army's Special Warfare Centre with 78 others in February 2011. In January 2014, he was appointed as the Commander of the 508 Regiment located in Rasah, Negeri Sembilan. On October 26, 2016, Khairy was elevated from the rank of 'Colonel' to 'Brigadier-General' effective Jan 14, 2015. This makes him the first Cabinet minister to be awarded a military rank after going through various courses organised by the Territorial Army, and he continues to lead the Territorial Army Regiment 508.

Ministerial career

After retaining his parliamentary seat in the 2013 election, Prime Minister Najib Razak elevated Khairy to the Cabinet as Minister for Youth and Sports. Later in 2013 he was re-elected to the presidency of UMNO Youth.

Sporting career

Khairy competed for the Malaysian polo team at the 2017 Southeast Asian Games. The team secured a gold medal in the men's team polo event winning over Thailand.