Malaysian politician
Anifah bin Haji Aman @ Haniff Amman
(
Jawi
: ????? ?? ???? @ ???? ????; born 16 November 1953) is a
Malaysian
politician
who has served as
Senator
since March 2023, Chairman of the
Labuan Corporation
since June 2023, Special Advisor to the
Chief Minister of Sabah
Hajiji Noor
on International Relations and Foreign Investments since January 2023 and the 3rd President of the
Love Sabah Party
(PCS) since July 2020. He served as the
Minister of Foreign Affairs
,
Deputy Minister of Primary Industries
and
Deputy Minister of Primary Industries
in the
Barisan Nasional
(BN) administration under former Prime Ministers
Mahathir Mohamad
,
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
and
Najib Razak
and former Ministers
Lim Keng Yaik
and
Peter Chin Fah Kui
from December 1999 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018 as well as the
Member of Parliament
(MP) for
Beaufort
from November 1999 to March 2004 and for
Kimanis
from March 2004 to August 2019 and for
Beaufort
from November 1999 to March 2004. He is a member of the PCS and was a member of the
United Malays National Organisation
(UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition before leaving it to be an
independent
in September 2018 and joining PCS in 2020.
[1]
Personal life
[
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]
Anifah is married to Siti Rubiah Abdul Samad and has 3 sons. He is the younger
half brother
of former
Chief Minister of Sabah
,
Musa Aman
.
[2]
His nephew,
Yamani Hafez Musa
who is Musa's son; was the MP for
Sipitang
(2018-2022).
Political career
[
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]
Anifah was first elected to Parliament in
1999 general election
, winning the seat of
Beaufort
. He was immediately appointed Deputy Minister of Primary Industries in the government of
Mahathir Mohamad
. He shifted to, and won, the seat of
Kimanis
in the
2004 general election
and became Deputy Minister for Plantation Industries and Commodities. After winning re-election in the
2008 general election
, Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
appointed him as Deputy Transport Minister. However, Anifah refused, saying he felt it was "time to make way" for someone else. Reports indicated this was the first time anyone had refused an appointment as Deputy Minister after the appointment had already been made public.
[3]
A day later, the
New Straits Times
reported that Anifah and another proposed Deputy Minister, Tengku Azlan Abu Bakar, had "thrown a tantrum ... claiming they are 'senior enough' to be made full ministers". Abdullah reportedly told them that he had "picked the best people", leading to their resignations.
[4]
After
Najib Razak
replaced Abdullah as Prime Minister in 2009, Anifah was promoted from the backbench to the Cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs.
[5]
During Anifah's tenure as Foreign Minister, Malaysia won election as a non-permanent member of the
United Nations Security Council
for the 2015?2016 term.
[6]
Amid retaining his Kimanis seat for the fourth consecutive term in the
2018 general election
(GE14) which saw the downfall of BN's federal and state governments, Anifah announced his resignation from UMNO to be an independent MP in September 2018.
[1]
On 16 August 2019, the Malaysian Election Court however has voided his win in the GE14 after the court found serious discrepancies in the conduct of the election process by the
Election Commission
(EC).
[7]
He decided not to contest the
2020 Kimanis by-election
called to focus on the subsequent 15th General Election instead.
[8]
In March 2020, a new opposition front with Anifah Aman as the president had been planned for the merger of
Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah
(PGRS),
Love Sabah Party
(PCS),
Parti Kerjasama Anak Negeri
(Anak Negeri) and yet-to-be registered Parti Hak Sabah.
[9]
However the plan fizzles out after Anifah had joined and was elected as PCS president instead in July 2020.
[10]
He had become the new PCS president after winning the post uncontested during the party 2nd Biennial General Meeting (BGM) on 26 July 2020.
[11]
[12]
Special Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sabah on International Relations and Foreign Investments (since 2023)
[
edit
]
On 30 January 2023, Chief Minister of Sabah
Hajiji Noor
appointed Anifah to a newly created position of the Special Advisor to the Chief Minister of Sabah on International Relations and Foreign Investments. Hajiji explained that he was confident of the extensive experience of Anifah in international relations that would assist the state government to forge good ties with foreign countries and investors and the appointment would argur well with the investor-friendly policy of
Sabah
. In response, Anifah thanked Hajiji for his confidence, gave assurance to do his best in the role, expressed his intention to establish Sabah as an investor-friendly destination, praised Hajiji of being visionary and highlighted the importance of international relations in bringing foreign investments to Sabah.
[13]
[14]
Senator (since 2023)
[
edit
]
On 20 March 2023, Anifah was appointed to the
Parliament
as a Senator.
[15]
Chairman of the Labuan Corporation (since 2023)
[
edit
]
On 25 June 2023, Anifah was declared the new Chairman of the Labuan Corporation to replace
Bashir Alias
. His two-year term began on 19 June 2023 and was set to end on 18 June 2025.
[16]
Election results
[
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]
Parliament of Malaysia
[17]
[18]
Year
|
Constituency
|
Candidate
|
Votes
|
Pct
|
Opponent(s)
|
Votes
|
Pct
|
Ballots cast
|
Majority
|
Turnout
|
1999
|
Beaufort
|
|
Anifah Aman
(
UMNO
)
|
16,009
|
62.27%
|
|
Ak Aliuddin Pg (
PBS
)
|
9,209
|
35.82%
|
25,707
|
6,800
|
64.26%
|
2004
|
Kimanis
|
|
Anifah Aman
(
UMNO
)
|
9,655
|
63.83%
|
|
Awang Tengah Awang Amin (
PKR
)
|
4,547
|
30.06%
|
15,126
|
5,108
|
70.11%
|
2008
|
|
Anifah Aman
(
UMNO
)
|
10,242
|
58.97%
|
|
Jaafar Ismail (
IND
)
|
4,789
|
27.58%
|
17,367
|
5,453
|
78.09%
|
|
Ismail Bongsu (
PKR
)
|
1,615
|
9.30%
|
|
Benjamin Basintal (
IND
)
|
205
|
1.18%
|
2013
|
|
Anifah Aman
(
UMNO
)
|
13,754
|
59.36%
|
|
Jaafar Ismail (
PKR
)
|
8,031
|
34.66%
|
23,170
|
5,723
|
87.01%
|
|
Jamil William Core (
STAR
)
|
650
|
2.81%
|
|
Lusin Balangon (
SAPP
)
|
240
|
1.04%
|
2018
|
|
Anifah Aman
(
UMNO
)
|
11,942
|
46.80%
|
|
Karim Bujang
(
WARISAN
)
|
11,786
|
46.19%
|
25,519
|
156
|
86.16%
|
|
Jaafar Ismail (
PHRS
)
|
1,300
|
5.09%
|
Honours
[
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]
National
[
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]
Foreign honours
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]