Abdul Latiff Ahmad
Abdul Latiff bin Ahmad (Jawi: عبداللطيف بن أحمد ; born 9 July 1958) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Special Functions in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob since August 2021. He served as Minister of Rural Development in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration under former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin from March 2020 to August 2021 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mersing since November 1999. He served as the Deputy Minister of Defence, Deputy Minister of Health and Deputy Minister of Human Resources in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Ministers Mahathir Mohamad, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak from December 1999 to May 2013.[1][2][3] He was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.[4] He has been a member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) since 2019, a former component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition and now PN coalition and was briefly an independent politician after resigning from UMNO in 2018.
Political career
Abd Latiff was firstly elected to the Johor State Legislative Assembly for Endau seat in 1995 election. In the 1999 general election he switched to federal politics by contesting and winning to be the MP of Mersing constituency in Johor, and thereafter served as Deputy Minister of Human Resources (1999 to 2004), Deputy Minister of Health (2004 to 2010) and Deputy Minister of Defence (2010 to 2013). He was reelected MP for the Mersing parliamentary seat in the consecutive 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2018 general elections.
Abd Latiff was dropped from Najib Razak's cabinet after the 2013 general election, and was appointed as the chairman of the government-linked housing development company Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB).[5] He left SPNB in early 2019 after BN lost as the ruling federal government to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 2018 election.[6][7]
Controversies and issues
Insulting UMNO
On 8 July 2020, he said UMNO was an unscrupulous party in Sabah after its leaders jumped to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu). Earlier, a video featuring Abdul Latif's statement in an open forum on the matter was spread on social media where he mentioned "Sabahans do not mention jumping but call migration and usually from Berjaya to PBS, PBS goes to UMNO. Meanwhile, Abdul Latiff's statement met with opposition from UMNO leaders who are now urging him to resign.[8][9] After receiving word of mouth from UMNO leaders, finally he admitted his mistake. While reminding UMNO, the real enemy is the opponents and they should not quarrel with each other, he said he apologized if the statement regarding "UMNO does not work in Sabah" was misunderstood and hurt the hearts of many parties.[10]
Election results
Year | Constituency | Government | Votes | Pct | Opposition | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | N9 Endau, P129 Mersing. | Abd Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 7,315 | 69% | Sheikh Abdullah Said Salleh (PAS) | 3,302 | 31% | 10,668 | 4,013 | 64.36% |
Year | Constituency | Government | Votes | Pct | Opposition | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | P129 Mersing, Johor. | Abd Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 18,821 | 70.28% | Idris Tukachil (PAS) | 7,960 | 29.72% | 27,617 | 10,861 | 70.29% | ||
2004 | P154 Mersing, Johor. | Abd Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 19,222 | 80.52% | Idris Tukachil (PAS) | 4,649 | 19.48% | 24,484 | 14,573 | 72.25% | ||
2008 | Abd Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 20,116 | 75.92% | Shahar Abdullah (PAS) | 6,380 | 24.08% | 27,548 | 13,736 | 75.59% | |||
2013 | Abd Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 26,184 | 71.50% | Roslan Nikmat (PAS) | 10,437 | 28.50% | 37,393 | 15,747 | 84.03% | |||
2018 | Abd Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 19,806 | 53.00% | Md Nasir Hashim (PPBM) | 11,347 | 30.37% | 38,306 | 8,459 | 79.51% | |||
A. Rahman A. Hamid (PAS) | 6,215 | 16.63% |
Honours
Honours of Malaysia
Malacca :
Companion Class I of the Order of Malacca (DMSM) – Datuk (2003)[14]
Johor :
Sultan Ibrahim Medal (PIS) (1996)
Companion of the Order of the Crown of Johor (SMJ) (1997)[15]
References
- "Malaysia Decides 2008". The Star (Malaysia). Star Publications (Malaysia). Archived from the original on 9 April 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2010. Percentage figures are calculated based on total turnout.
- "Malaysia General Election". undiinfo Malaysian Election Data. Malaysiakini. Retrieved 11 March 2017. Results only available from the 2004 election.
- "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri". Election Commission of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 6 September 2011. Retrieved 17 March 2010. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
- Mazwin Nik Anis, Muguntan Vanar and Zakiah Koya (15 December 2018). "Six more MPs leave Umno". The Star. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
- "Former deputy minister Dr Abd Latif now SPNB chairman". The Malaysian Insider. 14 June 2013. Archived from the original on 1 November 2014. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
- "Heads to roll from more than 100 MOF Inc firms, says report". Malaysiakini. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
- Nabila Yasmin Razib (22 February 2019). "Mohammad Mentek dilantik Pengerusi SPNB". Utusan Malaysia (in Malay). Retrieved 22 February 2019.
- "UMNO Sabah Sudah Tidak Laku – Abdul Latiff | Borneo Today".
- "UMNO parti tak laku: Abdul Latiff digesa letak jawatan". 8 July 2020.
- "Latiff Ahmad mohon maaf kata 'Umno tak laku'". 8 July 2020.
- "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pilihan Raya Umum. Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
- "14th General Election Malaysia (GE14 / PRU14) - Johor". election.thestar.com.my. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
- "undi.info - Mersing - P154". undi.info. Archived from the original on 23 April 2018.
- "The Malacca Yang Di-Pertua Negri's Birthday Honours List". The Star. 12 October 2003. Retrieved 11 October 2018.
- "Chua gets Datukship in Johor Honours List", New Straits Times, 8 April 1997.