KUALA LUMPUR: Barisan Nasional candidate Khairy Jamaluddin said he is ready to lead the country and become the prime minister someday.
This is the first time he has gone on record saying it, adding that he needs to win the Sungai Buloh seat first in next week's general election.
"If the people of Sungai Buloh give me the mandate, then Sungai Buloh will not be the limit. I will bring the people of Sungai Buloh... (and) one day, we will lead Malaysia... Inshaa Allah (God willing).
"With Allah SWT's destiny and the support of my friends, one day, I want to lead Umno. One day, I want to be your prime minister and develop this country, but I must capture Sungai Buloh first," he said during a ceramah at Taman Saujana Utama in Sungai Buloh, last night.
While Khairy's ambition to lead his party and subsequently, the country, has been long been speculated, he had never said it out in the open, for fear of being 'penalised' by Umno supreme council members, known to prioritise seniority.
"But the time has come for me to say it," he said, to rapturous applause by the crowd.
The caretaker health minister however said this is not his time, and if Barisan Nasional wins the election, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, whom he described as his big brother, would be prime minister.
"I'm 46 years old, I can wait for a while, but not for too long. I'm ready but I have to prove it with Sungai Buloh first.
"If the people of Sungai Buloh support me, I can inform the party that I came (to fight) in the dragon's den with a majority of 26,000 votes but I won a seat for BN.
"I want to lead the party and I want to lead the country," he said.
Khairy will be facing R. Ramanan in the PKR stronghold. PKR's R.Sivarasa first won the Subang seat in the 2008 general election and defended it in the 2013 general election. After the constituency was renamed Sungai Buloh, he won the seat in the last general election with an astounding majority of more than 26,000 votes.
