Ismail bin Kassim (born 2 October 1959) is a

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

politician and the member of the

Perlis State Legislative Assembly The Perlis State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Perlis) is the state legislature of the Malaysian state of Perlis. It is a unicameral institution, consisting of a total of 15 lawmakers representing single-member constituenci ...

for until November 2022. From 2008 to 2013 he was a member of the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

for the constituency in

Perlis Perlis, ( Northern Malay: ''Peghelih''), also known by its honorific title Perlis Indera Kayangan, is the smallest state in Malaysia by area and population. Located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, it borders the Thai provinces ...

. He is also the younger brother of the former

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of Perlis,

Shahidan Kassim Shahidan bin Kassim ( Jawi: شهيدان بن قاسم; born 17 June 1951) is a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Federal Territories in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob fro ...

. Presently Ismail is a member of the

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation ( Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its ...

or ''Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Bersatu'' (UMNO), a component of

Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 ...

(BN) coalition. Early in his political career, Ismail had joined

United Malays National Organization The United Malays National Organisation ( Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its i ...

(UMNO) of Barisan Nasional (BN) at the age of 28 and had served as the head of UMNO's youth wing in Perlis. He contested the federal seat of Arau by-election, 1998 but was defeated by

Hashim Jasin Hashim bin Jasin is a Malaysian politician from the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition. He has served as the 4th Spiritual Leader of PAS since October 2016 after the death of his predecess ...

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS; ms, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; ms, ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. As the party focused on Islamic fundamentalism, PAS's ...

(PAS). His candidacy in 1998 was marred by accusations of cronyism arising from his brother's position as Menteri Besar of Perlis. At the time, UMNO was bleeding support due to allegations by supporters of UMNO leadership contender Anwar Ibrahim of cronyism and nepotism within the party. Selecting the brother of the state's Chief Minister as UMNO's candidate did little to neutralise the allegations. Ismail's defeat was the first time that UMNO had lost a parliamentary seat in Perlis to PAS. Ismail was later appointed to the Dewan Negara (Senate), before re-contesting and winning Arau ten years later, in the 2008 general election, defeating opponent from PAS by a 300-vote margin. His predecessor, Syed Razlan Syed Putra, had held the seat with a majority of 3,243. For the 2013 election, Ismail switched seats with his brother, Shahidan: Ismail moved to the Perlis State Assembly, winning the seat of Tambun Tulang, which his brother had held since 1995, while Shahidan contested and won the federal seat of Arau. In the 2018 election he was nominated as a candidate for Menteri Besar by Perlis BN after retaining his seat but when the plan did not go through, he decided to quit UMNO to become first Perlis independent state assemblyman. He later applied to join Kedah

People's Justice Party The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The ...

(PKR) instead but the application was never reported to be approved. Ismail finally announced he had joined

Malaysian United Indigenous Party The Malaysian United Indigenous Party ( ms, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia), abbreviated BERSATU or PPBM, is a nationalist political party in Malaysia. The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia (). It is a major c ...

(BERSATU) in August 2019, but reverted to UMNO on 16 May 2020 after his application to join UMNO approved.

Election results

Honours

* : **

MY-PERL Order of the Crown of Perlis - Knight Commander - DPMP

Knight Commander of the

Order of the Crown of Perlis Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

(DPMP) – Dato' (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ismail Kassim 1959 births Living people People from Perlis Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian Muslims Malaysian United Indigenous Party politicians United Malays National Organisation politicians Independent politicians in Malaysia Members of the Dewan Rakyat Members of the Dewan Negara Members of the Perlis State Legislative Assembly 21st-century Malaysian politicians