KJ cadang semua bekas PM diundang ke sambutan hari kebangsaan

Former Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin has proposed that all former Prime Ministers should be automatically invited to attend Malaysia's Independence Day celebrations. Khairy suggested this after the government was criticized for not inviting former Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad to this year's Independence Day event in Putrajaya.

To resolve the issue, Khairy proposed that after this, the Prime Minister and Cabinet should decide, that all former Prime Ministers who are still alive should be invited to attend Independence Day and given a front-row seat, regardless of their political affiliation or whether they are friends or enemies. Whether the former Prime Minister chooses to attend or not is up to them, Khairy stated in a new episode of the podcast Keluar Sekejap.

Khairy, who is also a former minister, said the list of the country's top leaders places former Prime Ministers at position 10, after the Prime Minister at position 6 and Cabinet ministers at position 16. This ranking is the official arrangement for royal relatives, high-ranking civil servants and notables. The chief secretary of the Communications Ministry, Abdul Halim Hamzah, who presided over the secretariat managing this year's event, said former Prime Ministers have not been automatically invited to Independence Day celebrations since 2018.

Halim also said the secretariat was informed by the Prime Minister's Office that Mahathir would be abroad from August 28 to 31. He said this was based on a request from the Organizing Committee for Leave Abroad, which was approved by the Prime Minister, in line with provisions for former Prime Minister attendance under the Members of Parliament (Members of Parliament's Leave) Act.

A colleague of Keluar Sekejap, Shahril Hamdan, said the lack of a formal invitation to Mahathir for this year's event would certainly create a negative perception. "How you say it, how you explain it, it still looks pretty bad," he said. "I think some of the negative comments are just Tun M trying to make a spectacle or something like that. Whatever the case, what's happening looks pretty bad."