A MODERN MAVERICK

KHAIRY JAMALUDDIN ON PIVOTS, PODCASTS, AND THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE

- ANANDHI GOPINATH

THIS SHOULDN'T HAVE COME AS A SURPRISE. , but Khairy Jamaluddin speaks like a politician. By this, I don't mean the script fed by the vote-hungry glib men of office, but the carefully considered manner in which a man used to the public attention should speak. Even the most potentially contentious question is answered with diplomacy and aplomb. This is PR 101, the AUGUSTMAN team quietly notes.

The former politician-turned-podcaster is chatty when the recorder is on and more than accommodating when the camera is trained on him, but Khairy is otherwise fairly reserved. It is only when the music of Queen filters through the speakers that we see a lighter side of the newly minted 49-year-old. “Chipping around, kick my brains ’round the floor/These are the days it never rains, but it pours,” crooned Freddie Mercury (credit if you guessed what song this is from without help) and we could see the tension lift from Khairy’s shoulders as if he were shrugging off a too-heavy jacket, as he started to jive to the music.

Those pictures of him dancing made our final cut — images of a man secure in his own skin, utterly self-assured about what he stands for. Despite the career pivots he’s made, he remains confident about his calling.

Khairy’s departure from politics was marked by his unceremonious — and highly publicised — expulsion from UMNO in 2022, after which he debuted as a co-host for local radio station Hot FM. I was on the morning show, and you have to show up very early, I’m not a morning pagi buta as it were. But it's not just showing up, but being switched on,” he grins. “You may have just woken up but you have to be interesting and engaging and funny. It’s intense, especially since I do wake up early but I’m not a morning person.”