A jostling, juggling Tan

Joceline Tan, a columnist of the Malaysian Star newspaper, has received another round of brickbats; this time for heaping praise on Khairy Jamaluddin, Malaysia’s 31-year-old enfant terrible, who is the deputy youth leader of his country’s ruling political party, the United Malays National Organization (Umno). Joceline’s critics have often condemned her for her political propaganda for the ruling Barisan Nasional (National Front) coalition government. Bloggers, like Susan Loone, are offended by Joceline’s flattery of Khairy in her column in The Star, owned by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), the second largest party out of 13 in the national coalition government, to promote Khairy’s candidacy for the Umno Youth leader’s post. Khairy, the son-in-law of Malaysia’s premier Abdullah Badawi, intends to succeed his father-in-law in office, according to his friends.