Ahmad Zaharuddin Sani Ahmad Sabri said Khairy’s loss in Sungai Buloh in GE15 should serve as a lesson: placing a high-profile figure in a constituency that does not align with his image and political approach is a weak strategy.
The Global Asia Consulting analyst noted that Kedah is not an urban political arena that embraces reformist discourse or intellectual rhetoric. Instead, it is more attuned to approachable, “kopitiam-style” leadership.
“Khairy, with his populist-intellectual image and metropolitan style, is better suited to urban or semi-urban constituencies — not rural Malay-majority battlegrounds, where voters tend to be more sceptical of his progressive leanings.
“Bringing him to Kedah would only highlight a cultural mismatch in political expectations. It is not merely about personality, but about what the electorate values, which is familiarity over global vision,” he told FMT.
On Tuesday, Kedah Umno Youth information chief Safwan Jaafar was reported as saying that the state Barisan Nasional (BN) needs a figure like Khairy to ignite its political resurgence.
He said the former health minister’s ideology and thinking could help reshape the mindset of Kedah voters.
Khairy served as MP for Rembau from 2008 to 2022. In GE15, Umno fielded him in the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat, where he lost to Pakatan Harapan candidate R Ramanan.
Meanwhile, Azmi Hassan of Akademi Nusantara said states in the “SG4” bloc, including Kedah, have a strong sense of state identity that influences voter acceptance of candidates.
He described Khairy as a “universal candidate” better positioned to attract younger voters in urban and suburban areas, without being weighed down by strong state-based sentiments.
“It wouldn’t be suitable to field Khairy in Kedah. In fact, even if he were fielded in Kepala Batas, Penang, it would still be a mismatch — despite his strong family ties there (as the son-in-law of the late former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi).
“A figure like him should be placed in more open constituencies, where voters are less bound by state-centric preferences,” he said.
Last week, Khairy dismissed rumours that he would be fielded in Kepala Batas, a constituency represented by Abdullah for seven consecutive terms from 1978 to 2013.
He said Abdullah had previously told him and Reezal Merican Naina Merican, to “let Reezal take care of Kepala Batas”. Reezal was Abdullah’s political protégé.
Abdullah was succeeded by Reezal, who held the seat for two terms before losing it to PAS’s Siti Mastura Muhammad in the 2022 general election.