Keluar Sekejap

Keluar Sekejap (alternatively referred by its initials KS) is a weekly Malaysian political podcast hosted by two Malaysian politicians Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan. It launched its pilot episode on March 1, 2023, and officially its first episode on March 7, 2023, on YouTube and Spotify. Keluar Sekejap has consistently been ranked as one of Malaysia's most popular podcasts and has influenced the trend of political podcasting in the country and the Southeast Asian region. The podcast has been available on various platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts with highlights uploaded onto their main Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter page.

Background
Keluar Sekejap initially started due to KJ and Shahril's dismissal from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and was inspired from the British podcast The Rest is Politics hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, who were also both expelled from their parties. KJ and Shahril's expulsion started due to their open criticism towards the sitting president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. KJ, who was the former UMNO Youth Chief wanted to compete for the presidential post for the 2023 United Malays National Organisation leadership election, but then was denied and sacked before the party election took place allegedely due to sabotaging the party during GE-15. Shahril was also dismissed for 6 years but was not entirely sacked from the party.

The podcast regularly receives six figure views per episode whilst including various notable Malaysian politicians such as the Menteri Besar of Kedah Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, Menteri Besar of Selangor Amirudin Shari, former Senior Minister of Malaysia Azmin Ali, President of the Dewan Negara Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, Member of Parliament for Muar Syed Saddiq, and 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad.

Khairy Jamaluddin
Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar or more commonly known as KJ is one of two co-founders and regular co-hosts of Keluar Sekejap. An Oxford graduate in philosophy, politics and economics who had a stint in journaling for The Economist, KJ acts as the main host of the podcast, notably as the main persona of the show where he often exerts his main views on Malaysian politics, government policies, economics, and current affairs. Prior in creating the podcast, KJ was the former Malaysian Minister of Health and the Member of Parliament for Rembau where he was in charge of spearheading the country out of the COVID-19 pandemic. KJ's dismissal from Malaysia's Grand Old Party was one of the core reasons on creating Keluar Sekejap where he stated that he wanted to stay politically relevant despite being sacked by the party.

Shahril Hamdan
Shahril Sufian Hamdan, co-founder and co-host, who is also an UMNO exile was the former economic advisor to the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Ismail Sabri Yaakob. Shahril studied economics at Manchester, and sociology at the London School of Economics where he was a Chevening Scholar. He has held various high positions in UMNO where he was the former Vice Youth Chief and Information Chief of the party. Shahril's rise in politics was attributed to his close connection with KJ, where they share similar views and ideology within the party. Before the 2023 United Malays National Organisation leadership election, Shahril's membership as an UMNO member was terminated for 6 years which corelated to his ambition in creating Keluar Sekejap with KJ.

Content
Since its release, the podcast has known to criticize both the Malaysian government led by Anwar Ibrahim and the opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) on various issues and views. Both KJ and Shahril share centrist and moderate ideals for Malaysia, where they often reject ultraconservative sentiments from the opposition and populist agendas by the government.

PH-BN government
KJ and Shahril has shared mixed views toward the Anwar Ibrahim cabinet, rarely praising them for their policies involving the economy, foreign policy and governance, but oftentimes criticizing them for their lack of commitment in political reform involving combating corruption. KJ acknowledges the challenges of the current PH-BN government to enforce structural reforms, but believes that the government has not done enough critical or substantial effort. The podcast often criticizes and condemns the current state of UMNO which is led by its president, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Both KJ and Shahril is known to share contradictory opinions with Zahid, where KJ had competed against and lost to Zahid for the presidential post back in the 2018 United Malays National Organisation leadership election.

Perikatan Nasional
In the podcast, both KJ and Shahril had shown more support towards the opposition compared to the PH-BN government. During the 2023 Malaysian state elections, KJ had declared his support towards several PN candidates, where he even went to campaign and assist several of them during election season whilst Shahril remain apolitical. Despite the support, KJ and Shahril had both criticized PN's political rhetoric on abusing racial and religious sentiments in attracting rural and conservative Malay voters. In an episode with the Member of Parliament for Machang Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal, KJ and Shahril had expressed their disapproval towards Wan Fayhsal's racial comments towards the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Special guests
KS often hosts special guests, typically Malaysian politicians from across all lines who are within the current political scene. The following guests have been interviewed on the podcasts' special episodes: