Who is Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak

The Honourable Dato' Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak

Correspondence Address:
 Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia
Main Block, Perdana Putra Building
 Federal Government Administrative Centre
62502 PUTRAJAYA
MALAYSIA 

Dato' Sri Mohd Najib was appointed as Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister on 3 April 2009. He succeeded Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who did not seek re-election as Umno President.

Dato' Sri Najib, the eldest son of the second Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, was born in the district of Kuala Lipis in the state of Pahang. He received his primary and secondary education at one of the country's leading schools, St John's Institution. He continued his secondary education at the Malvern Boys’ College in Worcestershire, England. Upon completion of his secondary education, Dato' Sri Najib enrolled at the University of Nottingham and graduated in 1974 in industrial economics.

On his return to Malaysia in the same year, Dato' Sri Najib joined the national oil company, Petronas, as an executive where he served for two years before taking the plunge into politics following the sudden demise of his father in 1976. He was the obvious choice of the ruling National Front coalition to contest the Pekan parliamentary seat left vacant by his late father. The national outpouring of grief following Tun Razak's death and the respect for his father’s tremendous contributions to Malaysia's development saw Dato' Sri Najib elected unopposed as Member of Parliament at the very young age of 23.

It was to mark the start of Dato' Sri Najib’s long association with politics and government service. Following his unopposed victory as Member of Parliament in 1976, Dato' Sri Najib was appointed the Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Post. He also later served as Deputy Minister of Education and Deputy Minister of Finance. In the 1982 general elections, he stood in the state seat of Bandar Pekan and was subsequently appointed the Menteri Besar of Pahang until 1986.

Following the general elections in 1986 where he re-contested and won the parliamentary seat of Pekan, Dato' Sri Najib was appointed the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. Under his stewardship, Malaysia had its best ever showing in the SEA Games where the country emerged top in the medal tally for the first time in the history of the games. He also introduced the National Sports Policy which outlines the development of sports in the country and introduced monetary incentives for Malaysian athletes who won medals at the Olympics.

In 1990, Dato' Sri Najib was appointed Minister of Defence, a senior position within the government by the then Prime Minister, Dato’ Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad. He embarked on the modernisation of the armed forces, making it a leaner fighting force capable of handling any conventional threats. This, among others, saw Malaysia's acquisition of new assets such as the Russian aircraft, MiG 29, Boeing F18 Super Hornet, the F-2000 frigates, the 155 m artillery gun and the upgrading of the country's air defence with the acquisition of a new radar system. The welfare and well-being of armed forces personnel were given due attention including improvement to their housing facilities and allowances.

In 1995, Dato' Sri Najib was appointed to a much more prominent ministry, the Ministry of Education. During his tenure, the country's education system underwent a major reform with the passing of six laws, the main one being the Education Act 1996, to facilitate a more market driven education system.

The legal framework saw the country's education system undergo massive reforms and sweeping changes to the institutions of learning. It allowed them to offer a wider range of courses, different options and approaches to learning and new teaching methods. Today, there are greater choices and places for Malaysians to pursue their higher education locally or abroad. In addition, an increasing number of foreign students are pursuing their studies at institutions of learning in Malaysia.

Indeed, Dato' Sri Najib had a major role in this move to build a world-class education system that is flexible and innovative in Malaysia as well as turning the country into a regional education hub and centre of excellence. Apart from that, the well-being of teachers was given due attention with the introduction of time-based promotion, a better starting salary for new teachers and special housing projects for teachers.

During the 1999 general elections, Dato' Sri Najib received a major setback when he scraped through with a majority of 241 votes for the predominantly Malay Pekan parliamentary seat compared to the over 10,000 majority in the previous election. It came as a shock for him and political observers. However, it was not a complete surprise as the election came at the height of the 1999 political upheaval.

Following the elections, he was appointed Minister of Defence for the second time and proceeded with the modernisation of the armed forces which had come to a halt following the financial crisis of 1997. Major acquisitions included the purchase of the new Russian fighter aircraft, Sukhoi Su30 MKM, submarines which the Royal Malaysian Navy had sought for years and Polish tanks. Also, the short-range air defence system, Jernas, was acquired for the army. For the armed forces personnel, several allowances were raised in particular flying allowances for air force pilots and higher starting salaries for new recruits.

The 2004 general elections which came a few months after Dato' Sri Najib’s elevation as the Deputy Prime Minister saw him winning his parliamentary seat with a whopping 22,922 majority. It was one of the highest majorities in the elections and undoubtedly the most improved performance by a candidate.

In the 2008 general elections, Dato' Sri Najib was re-elected to the Pekan parliamentary seat with a majority of 26,464. It was the highest majority for Barisan Nasional despite the overall drop in support for the coalition government in the general elections.

He remained the Minister of Defence until September 2008 when he took over as Minister of Finance from Dato' Seri Abdullah in 2008. In March 2009, Dato' Sri Najib was elected unopposed as Umno President after Dato' Seri Abdullah decided not to seek re-election. Subsequently, in April, Dato' Seri Abdullah announced he was stepping down as Prime Minister and Dato' Sri Najib was sworn in as Prime Minister. He continues to hold the Minister of Finance post.

Under his premiership, the nation has embarked on a journey of transformation within Malaysia’s multi-racial, multi-religious context. The cornerstone is his 1Malaysia initiative, which emphasises national unity.

Dato’ Sri Najib has also launched the Government Transformation Programme to improve the quality of public services, increase efficiency and make the government more transparent. The programme sets key performance indicators to measure the performance of officials and agencies and national key result areas to define goals for specific areas of public policy. He also introduced a new cabinet position in charge of unity and performance management to implement the KPI system.

To drive the nation forward, Dato’ Sri Najib introduced the New Economic Model with reforms to create a business environment conducive to economic growth, development and investment. The goal is to make Malaysia a high-income nation and a developed country by 2020. Transformation and further liberalisation of the economy are vital to this.

Dato' Sri Najib is married to Datin Sri Rosmah Mansor and he has five children.

HONOURS & AWARDS

Year	Name of Award	From
2012	Imam Khalifah Agung	Pertubuhan Seni Silat Pusaka Gayong Malaysia (PSSPGM)
2012	Lifetime Achievement Award	World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF)
2011	Transformation Leadership Award 2011	World Chinese Economic Forum (WCEF)
2011	Doctor of Letters of Law Honoris Causa	Monash University, Australia
2010	AFC Diamond of Asia	Asian Football Association (AFC)
2010	World Telecommunication and Information Society Award 2010	International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
2010	Darjah Kerabat Sri Indera Mahkota Pahang Yang Amat Dihormat (DK)	Pahang
2010	Darjah Kerabat Laila Utama Yang Dihormati (DK)	Brunei
2010	Honorary Doctorate	Meiji University, Japan
2010	King Abdul Aziz Order of Merit (First Class)	Saudi Arabia
2009	Darjah Utama Pangkuan Negeri (DUPN)	Penang
2008	Darjah Utama Yang Amat Mulia Bintang Kenyalang Sarawak	Sarawak
2008	Darjah Utama Seri Mahawangsa Yang Amat Dihormati Mahkota Kedah (DMK)	Kedah
2007	Darjah Utama Negeri Melaka	Melaka
2007	Darjah Seri Setia Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail (SSSJ)	Perlis
2005	Darjah Seri Utama Negeri Sembilan (SPNS)	Negeri Sembilan
2004	Darjah Kebesaran Seri Paduka Mahkota Selangor (SPMS)	Selangor
2004	Darjah Kebesaran Seri Paduka Sultan Azlan Shah (SPSA)	Perak
2004	Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Kelantan (SPMK)	Kelantan
2003	PhD (Honoris Causa)	Nottingham University
2002	Sri Panglima Darjah Kinabalu (SPDK)	Sabah
1995	Distinguished Service Order (Military)	Singapore
1994	Bintang Yudha Dharma Utama	Indonesia
1993	Anugerah Kepimpinan Sukan Emas SAM	Benson & Hedges
1992	Knight Grand Cross 'First Class' of the Most Noble Order of the Crown of Thailand	Thailand
1992	PhD (Honoris Causa) in Sports Science	US Academy of Sports
1992	Darjah Dato' Paduka Mahkota Selangor (DPMS)	Selangor
1991	Panglima Negara Bintang Sarawak (PNBS)	Sarawak
1990	Man of the Year Award, Times Sport, New Straits Times	New Straits Times
1989	Special Testimony, United Nations Programme on Youth	United Nations
1988	Grand Order of Youth, Democratic People's Republic of Korea	Democratic People's Republic of Korea
1985	Darjah Kebesaran Seri Sultan Ahmad Shah (SSAP)	Pahang
1983	Seri Indera Mahkota Pahang	Pahang
1978	Darjah Sultan Ahmad Shah (DSAP)	Pahang
1976	Orang Kaya Indera Shahbandar	Pahang

EXPERIENCE

Year	Post Held
3rd April 2009	Prime Minister
Jan 2004 - April 2009	Deputy Prime Minister
Sept 2008 - Present	Minister of Finance
1999 - 2008	Minister of Defence
1995 - 1999	Minister of Education
1990 - 1995	Minister of Defence
1987 - 1990	Minister of Youth and Sports
1986 - 1987	Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports
1982 - 1986	Menteri Besar of Pahang
1982 - 1986	Member, State Assembly (Bandar Pekan)
1981 - 1982	Deputy Minister of Finance
1980 - 1981	Deputy Minister of Education
1978 - 1980	Deputy Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Post
1976 - 1982	Member of Parliament (Pekan)
1974 - 1976	Executive, Petronas

ELECTION


2008 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	36,262	77.80	WIN
KHAIRUL ANUAR BIN AHMAD ZAINUDIN			PKR	9,798	21.02

2004 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	31,956	77.96	WIN
ZAKARIA BIN DAHLAN			PAS	9,034	22.04

1999 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	13,148	50.25	WIN
RAMLI BIN MOHAMED			PAS	12,907	49.33

1995 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	17,004	73.25	WIN
M. SAMUEIL BIN MOHAMAD KAMEIL			S46	6,211	26.75

1990 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	21,262	66.33	WIN
OTHMAN BIN HITAM			S46	10,795	33.67

1986 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	16,431	74.50	WIN
ALI BIN ABDULLAH @ LEE KIN HONG			PAS	5,623	25.50

1982 General Elections (Bandar Pekan, State Legislative Assembly)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	3,820	72.50	WIN
MOHD RUSDI BIN ARIF			PAS	1,449	27.50

1978 General Elections (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	13,876	76.16	WIN
MOHD RUSDI BIN ARIF			PAS	4,343	23.84

1976 By-Election (Pekan, Pahang)

Candidate			Party	Votes	%	Result
DATO' SRI MOHD NAJIB BIN TUN ABDUL RAZAK			BN	n/a	n/a	UNCONTESTED

APPOINTMENT AS PM

NAJIB SET TO STEER NATION TO GREATER HEIGHTS

KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 2009 (Bernama) -- The going may be tough for Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who takes over Malaysia's top job, but despite the challenges, the path is all set for the son of Malaysia's second Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak Hussein, to navigate the nation to greater heights.

Najib assumes the position as the country's Prime Minister at a highly challenging time when the economy is heading for recession, with exports and manufacturing both badly hurt by the slowdown in the global economy.

The present economic difficulties need a steady pair of hands in Najib to pull the nation through turbulent times.

With a strong background in economy and backed by a strong team, Najib can be counted upon to steer Malaysia through the present global economic crisis and achieving stronger growth in the process, say analysts, economists and corporate figures.

Najib, who is Finance Minister, has promised to use the current global economic downturn to boost the country up the economic value chain and to liberalise the services sector, reduce dependence on commodities and oil exports as well as low-end electronics.

Born on July 23, 1953 in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, Najib was educated at St John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur and Malvern Boy's College in Worcestershire, England, before earning a degree in Industrial Economics from Nottingham University.

Najib became Deputy Prime Minister on Jan 6, 2004 as he actually ascended to that position 47 years after his father's appointment to the same post.

Today, he was sworn in as Malaysia's sixth Prime Minister, in a carefully planned power transition that has been one year in the making. He takes over from Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who steps down after five and a half years in office.

Abdullah, 69, chose Najib as his deputy three months after assuming the post of prime minister following the retirement of his predecessor, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, in October 2003. Dr Mahathir served as the country's fourth prime minister for 22 years from 1981.

Najib was formallly elected as president of Umno on March 26 at the political party's general assembly to pave the way for him to become prime minister. By convention, the head of Umno has always served as the country's premier since 1957.

In his last policy speech as party president, Abdullah, who has held the post since October 2004, called on Umno members to give their solid support to Najib and help him take Malaysia to greater heights.

In hailing the transition of power, the Chief Executive Officer of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, said: "We look forward to the new leadership under Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and seek his guidance, wisdom and direction in taking Malaysia through the transition and through one of the most difficult economic climates."

He said MSC Malaysia, which was founded by Dr Mahathir, continued to enjoy strong support under the leadership of Abdullah as he pushed Malaysia into the era of the knowledge or K-economy.

Najib, said Badlisham, has also been a strong driving force in driving the MSC Malaysia through the announcement of the High Speed Broad Band (HSBB) programme, with the objective of increasing the broadband penetration throughout Malaysia.

"We believe that ICT has a significant role to play in many areas, including wealth creation and human capital development. Of immediate interest is for MSC Malaysia to drive the job creation, training opportunities, development of creative and outsourcing services industries as mentioned in the recent mini- budget which was tabled by Datuk Seri Najib," he said.

As the driver of MSC, Badlisham said MDeC would continue to support the national initiative to transform Malaysia into a knowledge-based economy through ICT.

In quoting Najib, he said: "HSBB will be a key national infrastructure initiative which will allow Malaysia to enhance its economic competitiveness in the region, help attract FDI (foreign direct investment) to the country as well as accelerate the nation's ICT and high-tech aspirations and agenda through an enhanced knowledge capital workforce."

Leveraging on the National Broadband Initiative, Najib had also created the Integrated Online Content Taskforce (ICON), chaired by the Chief Secretary to the Government, with a joint Secretariat of MDeC and the Malaysia Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU), he said.

ICON was set up to accelerate the supply of local content, thus increasing opportunities for entrepreneurs and more job creation, propelling Malaysia into a K-economy.

"Furthermore, in line with the HSBB efforts, Datuk Seri Najib also has been instrumental in pushing foreign investment for large ICT companies to set up base in MSC Malaysia, providing thousands of high-value jobs for Malaysians in the field of ICT," he said.

The Group Managing Director of BIMB Holdings Bhd, Johan Abdullah, said for a start, the recent RM60 billion stimulus package must be diligently monitored and to implement an effective, open and consistent communication channel to the public on the milestones to be achieved.

"Najib must hear out at all levels in the economic sector (users, suppliers, financiers, etc) and must come out with a "creative solution" to position Malaysia as not only a competitive but high-value economy.

Johan said it was not a question of whether or not Najib could achieve his economic goals.

"But more importantly, it is the ability to drive key stakeholders at all levels to move together in achieving the economic value chain. Hence, specific skills sets and competencies with a passion for creative thinking must always be given a priority.

"We need to condition the mind of the people that we all need to do it together now for our economic survival for the future," said Johan.

Bank Negara Governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz said the Malaysian economy is projected to register a growth rate of minus one per cent to 1 per cent this year and the government and the central bank had implemented measures, such as fiscal spending packages and interest rate cuts, to spur the economy on.

"These measures are projected to take time to work through the economy and should bear fruit in the second half," said Dr Zeti when unveiling the 2008 BNM annual report recently.

Economist Tan Sri Ramon Navaratnam said the rakyat looked forward to the new premier to rally the Malaysian public to bring about positive and constructive changes that would lead the nation to greater heights.

Navaratnam, who is also Chairman of the Centre for Public Policy Studies, said Najib was almost brought up to lead by his father, gaining wide experience in the government right to the Cabinet level as deputy prime minister.

He became the deputy prime minister on Jan 6, 2004.

"With the many portfolios he has held over the years, including in education, Najib received great grooming from his late father (before that)," he said.

"Najib is well qualified to lead," said Navaratnam, but added that the new prime minister may have detractors who could be dampeners to his efforts in confidence and nation-building after the testy or fractious period after the March 8, 2008 general election.

Navaratnam, who expects changes to take place under Najib's leadership, said: "Reform would have to be the order of the day in all aspects of the Malaysian way of life.

"As the PM (Abdullah) says the new cabinet has to change before it is changed. The BN government will also have to change before the BN is changed."

Sazean Group Executive Chairman Tan Sri Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir said the nation was looking forward to this transition, especially with Najib's background as the son of the late Tun Abdul Razak, who together with the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, laid the foundations for Malaysia's prosperity.

"Unfortunately, the struggle and the vision of the founding fathers have gone astray. As a result, Malaysians of all races are very angry and are prepared for change."

However, he said the new leadership somewhat offered the government a final chance to save the nation especially with the Opposition not being able to put their act together even after one year since March 8.

"It is now left to Najib to save his own father's great legacy for the country and rakyat. If the country is united and our Cabinet Ministers are focused on their jobs and remain clean, we can overcome our problems easily.

"One of the reasons why the rakyat are unhappy is because of the (perceived) widespread corruption, abuse of power and red tape," added Abdul Kadir, a former Cabinet Minister.


(Source: About PM - http://www.pmo.gov.my)