Ahmad Zahid Hamidi | |||||||||||||
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أحمد زاهد حميدي | |||||||||||||
11th and 14th Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia | |||||||||||||
Assumed office 3 December 2022 Serving with Fadillah Yusof | |||||||||||||
Monarchs | Abdullah (2022–2024) Ibrahim Iskandar (since 2024) | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Anwar Ibrahim | ||||||||||||
Preceded by | Ismail Sabri Yaakob (2021) | ||||||||||||
In office 29 July 2015 – 10 May 2018 | |||||||||||||
Monarchs | Abdul Halim (2015–2016) Muhammad V (2016–2018) | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Najib Razak | ||||||||||||
Preceded by | Muhyiddin Yassin | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Wan Azizah Wan Ismail | ||||||||||||
14th Leader of the Opposition | |||||||||||||
In office 18 July 2018 – 10 March 2019 | |||||||||||||
Monarchs | Muhammad V (2018–2019) Abdullah (31 January–10 March 2019) | ||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Mahathir Mohamad | ||||||||||||
Preceded by | Wan Azizah Wan Ismail | ||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Ismail Sabri Yaakob | ||||||||||||
8th President of the United Malays National Organisation (ex officio: Chairman of Barisan Nasional) | |||||||||||||
Assumed office 30 June 2018 Acting: 12 May 2018 – 30 June 2018 On leave: 18 December 2018 – 30 June 2019 | |||||||||||||
Deputy |
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Preceded by | Najib Razak | ||||||||||||
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Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Bagan Datuk | |||||||||||||
Assumed office 25 April 1995 | |||||||||||||
Preceded by | Mohamed Jamrah | ||||||||||||
Majority | 14,830 (1995) 4,617 (1999) 12,539 (2004) 2,692 (2008) 2,108 (2013) 5,073 (2018) 348 (2022) | ||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||
Born | Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi 4 January 1953 Bagan Datuk, Perak, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) | ||||||||||||
Political party | United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) (since 1973) | ||||||||||||
Other political affiliations | Barisan Nasional (BN) (since 1973) | ||||||||||||
Spouse | Hamidah Khamis | ||||||||||||
Children | 5 | ||||||||||||
Residence(s) | Bagan Datuk, Perak | ||||||||||||
Education | University of Malaya (BA) University Putra Malaysia (PhD) | ||||||||||||
Occupation | Politician | ||||||||||||
Website | Official blog | ||||||||||||
Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Facebook Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Parliament of Malaysia | |||||||||||||
Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi (Jawi: أحمد زاهد بن حميدي; born 4 January 1953) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Rural and Regional Development since December 2022. A member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), he has served as its leader and the chairman of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition since May 2018. Zahid has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan Datuk since April 1995. He is also the first president of UMNO, after Malaya independence, not being elected as Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Born in Perak, Zahid studied and began a career in banking before entering politics. He served in several cabinet positions under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak from March 2008 to May 2018.[1] He was also Deputy Prime Minister from July 2015 to May 2018. Zahid became the President of the UMNO in 2018 following the party's defeat at the 2018 election. He served as the 14th Leader of the Opposition from July 2018 to March 2019. Under his leadership, UMNO and BN won at the 2021 Malacca state election and the 2022 Johor state election, but achieved its worst result in Malaysian history at the 2022 federal election. After BN formed a coalition government with Pakatan Harapan, he was appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia in December 2022, making him the first person to be appointed to this position twice, under two different administrations.
Zahid has faced several investigations and charges for corruption during his career.