Mahdzir bin Khalid ( Jawi: محاضر بن خالد; born 15 December 1960) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

who served as the Minister of Rural Development in the

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 se ...

(BN) administration under former Prime Minister

Ismail Sabri Yaakob Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob ( ms, اسماعيل صبري بن يعقوب, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; born 18 January 1960) is a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia from August 2 ...

from August 2021 to the collapse of BN administration in November 2022, Minister of Education and Deputy Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water in the BN administration under former Prime Minister

Najib Razak Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak ( ms, محمد نجيب بن عبد الرزاق, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th prime minister of Malaysi ...

and former Minister

Maximus Ongkili Datuk Seri Panglima Dr. Maximus Johnity Ongkili (born 26 October 1953) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Chairman of the Energy Commission of Sabah (ECOS) since February 2023. He served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department f ...

from May 2013 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018. He served Chairman of the

Tenaga Nasional Berhad Tenaga Nasional Berhad (, abbreviated as TNB; TENAGA, ), also known as Tenaga Nasional or simply Tenaga, is the Malaysian multinational electricity company and is the only electric utility company in Peninsular Malaysia and also the largest p ...

(TNB) from May 2020 to October 2021 and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Padang Terap Kedah since May 2013. He also served as the 9th

Menteri Besar of Kedah The Menteri Besar of Kedah or the First Minister of Kedah is the head of government in the Malaysian state of Kedah. According to convention, the Menteri Besar is the leader of the majority party or largest coalition party of the Kedah State Legis ...

from December 2005 to March 2008,

Kedah State Executive Council The Kedah State Executive Council is the executive branch of the State Government of Kedah, Malaysia. The Council is composed of the List of Menteris Besar of Kedah, Menteri Besar, the Leader of the council, appointed by the Sultan of Kedah, Sultan ...

lor from March 2004 to his promotion to Menteri Besar in December 2005 and Member of the

Kedah State Legislative Assembly The Kedah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Kedah) is the state legislature of the Malaysian state of Kedah. It is a unicameral institution, consisting of a total of 36 lawmakers representing single-member constituencies thro ...

(MLA) for Pedu from March 2004 to May 2013. He is a member and Vice-President 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 in ...

(UMNO), a component party of the ruling BN coalition.

Political career

Mahdzir started his political career as a staffer and in 1999 became the political secretary to

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Tun Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi ( Jawi: عبد الله بن احمد بدوي; born 26 November 1939) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 5th Prime Minister of Malaysia from October 2003 to April 2009. He was also the sixth president of ...

. In 2004 he was elected to the Kedah State Legislative Assembly for the rural seat of Pedu. In December 2005 he became the state's Chief Minister after his predecessor, Syed Razak Syed Zain Barakhbah, resigned because of ill health. Mahdzir had been acting in the position since July 2005. Mahdzir's tenure as Menteri Besar came to an end after his BN Kedah state government was defeated in the 2008 election by the

Pakatan Rakyat The People's Alliance ( ms, Pakatan Rakyat; abbrev: PR) was an informal Malaysian political coalition and successor to Barisan Alternatif (BA). The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP ...

(PR) opposition coalition led by the

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

(PAS). Mahdzir became Barisan Nasional's opposition leader in the state assembly before moving to federal parliament in the 2013 election, winning the seat of

Padang Terap The Padang Terap District is a district in Kedah, Malaysia. It is governed by the Padang Terap District Council ( ms, Majlis Daerah Padang Terap). Etymology Padang Terap is named after the Terap tree (''Artocarpus elasticus'') which is a type o ...

from PAS. After the election he was appointed as Deputy Minister for Energy, Green Technology and Water in the government of Prime Minister

. Over a period of about 17 months between 2015-17, as Minister of Education, Mahdzir was pressured to award a contract for the provision of electricity to rural Sarawak schools to Jepak Holdings.

Jepak Holdings

In late 2015, Saidi Bin Abang Samsudin and Rayyan Radzwill bin Abdullah proposed to the Ministry of Education that it award their company, Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd, a contract to replace other contractors for the provision of maintenance of diesel electric generators at rural and interior Sarawak schools and install a hybrid solar voltaic system for RM1.25 billion. As Minister of Education, Mahdzir did not favour the proposal as the Ministry’s technical experts doubted Jepak’s expertise and the Ministry had already planned to connect some of the schools to the electricity grid. Saidi and Rayyan then sought the assistance of

Rosmah Mansor Rosmah binti Mansor ( Jawi: روسمه بنت منصور; born 10 December 1951) is the second wife of former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak. Like her husband, she became implicated in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. On 1 Se ...

, wife of Prime Minister

, to effect the contract. Saidi and Rayyan agreed to pay Rosmah 15% of the contract sum, or RM187.5 million, for her help. In December 2016, Rosmah called Mahdzir to urge him to award the contract. Eventually, the Ministry signed a contract with Jepak in June 2017. In September 2022, Rosmah was convicted in the High Court of Malaya of bribery in relation to the Jepak contract.

Election results

Honours

* : ** Knight Grand Companion of the

Order of Loyalty to the Royal House of Kedah The Illustrious Order of Loyalty to the Royal House of Kedah (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Yang Mulia Setia di-Raja'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Kedah History It was founded by Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah on 21 September 1973. Cl ...

(SSDK) - Dato' Seri (2006) ** Grand Commander of the Order of Loyalty to Sultan Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah (SHMS) - Dato' Seri Diraja (2008) * : ** MY-PERA Order of the Perak State Crown - lower classes

MY-PERA Order of the Perak State Crown - lower classes

Knight Commander of the

Order of the Perak State Crown The Most Illustrious Order of the Perak State Crown ( Malay:''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Negeri Perak Yang Amat Mulia'') is knighthood order of the Sultanate of Perak. Background It was founded by Sultan Yusuf Izzuddin Shah on 12 December 1957. ...

(DPMP) - Dato' (2003)

References

Living people 1960 births Malaysian schoolteachers People from Kedah Malaysian people of Malay descent Malaysian Muslims United Malays National Organisation politicians Education ministers of Malaysia Government ministers of Malaysia Members of the Dewan Rakyat Chief Ministers of Kedah Kedah state executive councillors Members of the Kedah State Legislative Assembly 21st-century Malaysian politicians {{Malaysia-politician-stub