<figure id="attachment_3254022" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-3254022" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-3254022" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/3aa7af94-ong-kian-ming-khairy-jamaluddin-tile-pic-11126.webp" alt="Ong Kian Ming Khairy Jamaluddin tile pic 11126" width="1600" height="1000" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-3254022" class="wp-caption-text">Former Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming threw his support behind Khairy Jamaluddin in a message to mark Khairy&#8217;s 50th birthday.</figcaption></figure>
PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Ong Kian Ming has said that he will be taking leave from his work in academia to campaign for former Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin in the next general election, although the latter’s return to politics remains uncertain.
In a birthday message to Khairy on Instagram, the former Bangi MP considered Khairy to be one of the handful of people he considered a friend and brother in the “brutal world of politics”.
Khairy turned 50 today.
“I don&#8217;t know what the next decade will look like for Khairy. But I do know that I will be taking leave from work to publicly campaign for KJ, regardless of his party affiliation, at the next general election,” he said.
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“When he becomes a prime minister, I will gladly throw my hat into the ring to be part of his Cabinet, if he sees me fit.”
Ong also shared how both of them remain close after leaving frontline politics.
Khairy was sacked from Umno in 2023 for breaching party discipline during the 15th general election, while Ong decided not to contest in the last general election and subsequently returned to academia.
Ong also recalled how he had collaborated with Khairy, despite being from opposing parties back then, on common causes such as the Sports Development (Amendment) Act 2018, and in the Operation Surge Capacity to provide at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose to residents in the Klang Valley. Khairy was the health minister from 2021 to 2022.
In 2023, it was reported that Khairy had jokingly suggested that he and Ong form a political party together, months after he had been sacked from Umno. Ong, in response, quipped that he would consider if Khairy was the president of the new party.
The former DAP MP had also said three years ago that he believed Khairy has what it takes to be a prime minister candidate.

MatchPoint Times

Ex-DAP MP pledges to join a future KJ govt

In a birthday message, Ong Kian Ming says he will take leave to campaign for Khairy Jamaluddin at the next general election.

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