Ahmad Said

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Datuk Ahmad Said (born 1957) is the Menteri Besar of the state of Terengganu, Malaysia since 2008. He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) which is part of the nation ruling coalition Barisan Nasional. He is currently the state assemblyman of Kijal, Terengganu.

1 Profile
2 Chief Minister of Terengganu
- 2.1 Appointment as Menteri Besar
3 References

[edit] Profile

Ahmad Said is a political science graduate of Universiti Sains Malaysia, and was elected an assemblyman in 1990. He is currently married, with eight children.

Within the party, he previously held the titles of Terengganu UMNO and Kemaman UMNO Youth Chief, and was also the Exco member of National UMNO Youth wing. His current position is that of Committee member of the Terengganu UMNO Youth Chief and holds the position of Kemaman UMNO division chief.

[edit] Chief Minister of Terengganu

[edit] Appointment as Menteri Besar

Following the ruling party UMNO's return to power over Terengganu after winning 24 out of 32 seats in the 2008 general elections, Prime Minister (PM) Abdullah Ahmad Badawi put forth the reappointment of Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh to began the second term as Menteri Besar. In what political analysts describe as a possible constitutional crisis, trouble began to precipitate after the Sultan of Terengganu, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, who is also current Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) of Malaysia refused to re-appoint and swear in Idris as Menteri Besar.^[1] Similar problems occurred in the state of Perlis where the PM's choice was also rejected, in which the latter eventually gave in to its sultan.^[2]

Terengganu's sultan appointed Ahmad Said instead for the job, with the Regency Advisory Council handing him the letter of appointment. The PM claimed that the appointment of Ahmad Said was unconstitutional as it went against the wishes of the assemblymen and the Prime Minister's office who have supported Idris Jusoh candidacy for Menteri Besar.^[3] In spite of threats to strip Ahmad Said of his party membership "for disobeying the leadership", he went to the office in Wisma Darul Iman to begin the first day of his new appointment on 25 March 2008. The party announced earlier that they made good on their promise to remove his membership, which technically disqualifes him to be appointed as Menteri Besar in the first place.^[4] The ruling also planned to vote down the sultan's choice through a motion of no-confidence by 22 UMNO state assemblymen. The opposition party Parti Islam SeMalaysia in the meantime promised that its assemblymen would support Ahmad Said as Menteri Besar.^[5]

On 26 March 2008 however, PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin met at Istana Negara to resolve the deadlock.^[6] The Prime Minister reversed his stance and decided to accept the King's appointment of Ahmad Said as Chief Minister of Terengganu.^[7]^[8] He also apologized to the King for the public spat over the appointment of the Menteri Besar, explaining that there was no intention to disparage or humiliate the royal household. The apparent backdown was due to threat that the royal household would be prepared to dissolve the state assembly if the motion of no-confidence was initiated against Ahmad Said, which would trigger another election in what is already a climate of discontent towards the ruling party and the possibility of dissenting assemblymen defecting to the opposition.^[9]

The UMNO Supreme Council proceeded to endorse Ahmad Said as the new Menteri Besar of Terengganu. With the resolution of the impasse, Ahmad Said expressed his gratefulness on his appointment and paid tribute to Idris, an old friend he has known since university, for the work he has done for the Terengganu people so far and to seek his advice. After the swearing in ceremony where the duties are handed over from Idris, he also expressed hopes in moving on to discharge his responsibility to the people and eradicate poverty within the state.^[10]^[11]