Rafidah binti Aziz ( Jawi: ; born 4 November 1943) 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 was

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 the

Selayang Selayang is a town in Gombak District, Selangor, Malaysia. Location Selayang is located on the main route to Rawang through Jalan Ipoh, and this route is connected to Jalan Kuching as main Rawang-Kuala Lumpur route. It is also an optional ...

from 1978 to 1982 and

Kuala Kangsar The Kuala Kangsar (Perak Malay: ''Kole Kangso'') is the royal town of Perak, Malaysia. It is located at the downstream of Kangsar River where it joins the Perak River, approximately northwest of Ipoh, Perak's capital, and southeast of ...

constituency from 1982 to 2013. Born in Kuala Kangsar,

Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...

, Rafidah was Minister of International Trade and Industry from 1987 to 2008. As minister, she was the chairman of

MATRADE Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation ( ms, Perbadanan Pembangunan Perdagangan Luar Malaysia; officially abbreviated as MATRADE) is a Malaysian external trade government agency. Its key role is to assist Malaysian exporters to develop a ...

beginning in 1991. She was a veteran politician from

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) 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 se ...

(BN) until 2018.

Early career

Rafidah graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics in 1966 and a master's degree in Economics in 1970 from the

University of Malaya The University of Malaya ( ms, Universiti Malaya, UM; abbreviated as UM or informally the Malayan University) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest and highest ranking Malaysian institution of highe ...

. She then began her career as a tutor and lecturer in the Faculty of Economics, University of Malaya from 1966 to 1976.

Political career

Rafidah was an active member in the Malaysian political scene, having previously been appointed as a Member of the

Malaysian Parliament The Parliament of Malaysia ( ms, Parlimen Malaysia) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, lit. "People's Assembly") and the D ...

. She was appointed as

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in 1974 and resigned to contest in the General Elections in 1978. She served as Member of Parliament in the Selayang Constituency (from 1978 to 1982) and Kuala Kangsar Constituency (from 1982 to 2013). She served in the UMNO Supreme Council for 38 years since winning a seat in the council in 1975. She is Malaysia's longest-serving Minister of International Trade and Industry, having served in that capacity from 1987 to 2008. Previously, she also hold the portfolio of Minister of Public Enterprises from 1980 to 1987 and Deputy Minister of Finance from 1977 to 1980. In 1976, she was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Public Enterprises. Rafidah was the head of

's Woman Wing (''Wanita UMNO'' in

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

) from 1999 to 2009, before losing out in the 2009 UMNO General Assembly election to

Shahrizat Abdul Jalil Shahrizat binti Abdul Jalil (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: شهرزاد بنت عبدالجليل; born 15 August 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served in the Cabinet of Malaysia as Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (Malaysia), Mini ...

after seeking re-election for another term. She is holding the title of the longest serving woman MP in Malaysia from 1978 to 2013 for 35 years. In 2006, Rafidah was accused of corruption related to the issuance of Approved Permits (AP) for importing foreign vehicles by former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

in his series of criticisms against the

Government of Malaysia The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia ( ms, Kerajaan Persekutuan Malaysia), is based in the Federal Territory (Malaysia), Federal Territory of Putrajaya with the exception of the legislative branch, which is l ...

. Mahathir had also criticised then Prime Minister

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 ...

's handling of the Approved Permits (AP) issue, expressing his surprise that Rafidah was still retained as a

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

member although two people on the list of persons issued with highest number of APs were linked to her. In March 2008, following the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

held in that month, Rafidah was dropped from cabinet, despite winning her parliamentary seat when other ministers had lost theirs. After thirty-two years in government service, and twenty years as a minister, she described herself as being "blessed and content." When asked if she was saddened, she said that she wished Prime Minister

had told her earlier on not to contest the election. In 2018, she was fired from UMNO ahead of the 2018 general election which saw the failure of the party and BN to maintain the power as a ruling government for the first time in history.

Post political career

Rafidah currently serves as the Non-Executive Independent Chairman and Director of

AirAsia X AirAsia X (previously known as ''FlyAsianXpress Sdn. Bhd.''), is a long-haul budget airline based in Malaysia, and a sister company of AirAsia. It commenced operations on 2 November 2007 with its first service flown from Kuala Lumpur Internatio ...

since March 3, 2011. She was also the Chairman of Supermax Corporation Berhad from June 16, 2015 until her resignation on April 16, 2018. On 5 May 2018,

UMNO 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 ...

had announced it had fired three party veterans including Rafidah with

Daim Zainuddin Malay titles#Tun, Tun Dr. Abdul Daim bin Zainuddin (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: عبدالدائم بن زين الدين; born 29 April 1938 in Alor Setar, Kedah) is a Malaysian politician, businessman and former Minister of Finance (Malaysia), Fi ...

and

Rais Yatim Tan Sri The Malay language has a complex system of styles, titles and honorifics which are used extensively in Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the southern Philippines. Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and several provinces in ...

for supporting the opposition,

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...

then. However she claimed she had ceased being a member of UMNO since almost a decade ago. Rafidah was appointed one of the members Economic Action Council (EAC) by the new PH government on 11 February 2019.

Election results

Awards and recognitions

Rafidah was the main recipient of the Nona Superwoman Award in 2018.

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

* : ** Member of the

Order of the Defender of the Realm The Most Esteemed Order of the Defender of the Realm ( ms, Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara) is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country. The Order Motto are 'Dipeliharakan Allah-Pangkuan Negara' (By the Grace o ...

(AMN) (1973) ** Commander of the

(PMN) – Tan Sri (2008) * : ** MY-SEL Order of the Crown of Selangor - Knight Commander - DPMS

Knight Commander of the

Order of the Crown of Selangor The Most Illustrious Order of the Crown of Selangor (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Selangor Yang Amat Mulia'') is an order awarded by Sultan of Selangor as a reward for general services to the sultan and state of Selangor. It was fou ...

(DPMS) – Datin Paduka (1979) * : ** MY-PERA Order of the Perak State Crown (before 2001)

Knight Grand Commander of the

Order of the Perak State Crown The Most Illustrious Order of the Perak State Crown (Malay language, 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 D ...

(SPMP) – Dato’ Seri (1989) * : ** MY-TER Order of the Crown of Terengganu - SPMT - SMT - AMT

Knight Grand Commander of the

Order of the Crown of Terengganu The Most Distinguished Order of the Crown of Terengganu (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Terengganu Yang Amat Mulia'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Terengganu. History It was founded by Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengg ...

(SPMT) – Dato’ (1998) * : ** MY-SAR Order of the Star of Sarawak - 2 ribbon PNBS -JBS-PBS-ABS-BBS

Knight Commander of the

Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak The ''Darjah Utama Yang Amat Mulia Bintang Sarawak'' (Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak) is the highest state order in the state of Sarawak. It is conferred to those who rendered excellent service towards the development of the state of S ...

(PNBS) – Dato Sri (2003) * : ** MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca

Grand Commander of the

Exalted Order of Malacca ''Exalted'' is a high fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally published by White Wolf Publishing in July 2001. The game is currently in its third edition. It was originally created by Robert Hatch, Justin Achilli and Stephan Wieck, and w ...

(DGSM) – Datuk Seri (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rafidah Aziz 1943 births Living people People from Perak People from Kuala Kangsar Former United Malays National Organisation politicians Members of the Dewan Rakyat Women members of the Dewan Rakyat Members of the Dewan Negara Women members of the Dewan Negara Government ministers of Malaysia Women government ministers of Malaysia Women in Perak politics University of Malaya faculty University of Malaya alumni Knights Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak Knights Commander of the Order of the Crown of Selangor Members of the Order of the Defender of the Realm Commanders of the Order of the Defender of the Realm 20th-century Malaysian women politicians 20th-century Malaysian politicians 21st-century Malaysian women politicians Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Terengganu