Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor

Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri
Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor
Malaysian Minister of Tourism
In office
14 February 2006 – 17 March 2008
Preceded by Leo Michael Toyad
Succeeded by Azalina Othman Said
Member of Parliament
for Putrajaya
Incumbent
Assumed office
2004
Personal details
Born 20 December 1950 (1950-12-20) (age 61)
Melaka, Malaysia
Political party United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
part of Barisan Nasional
Spouse(s) Enny Beatrice Ferlat Kusumo Anggraini
Children 4 sons
5 daughters
Occupation Politician
Religion Islam

Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan bin Tengku Mansor (born 20 December 1950) is a Malaysian politician. He was the Malaysian Minister of Tourism from 2006 to 2008, and he was appointed as the Secretary-General of United Malays National Organization (UMNO) following the resignation of Dato' Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad on 20 March 2008.

Contents

Early life

Born in Melaka, Malaysia, Tengku Adnan obtained a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from Mara Technology Institute (Malay: Institut Teknologi Mara, ITM), which is now known as Universiti Teknologi MARA (Malay: Universiti Teknologi Mara, UiTM), and a BBA from the University of Southern California.

Tengku Adnan held important positions in the corporate sector, such as Director and Chairman of Far East Asset (FEA) and Chairman of UNZA Holdings Bhd.

Family

Tengku Adnan is married to Datin Seri Enny Beatrice Ferlat Kusumo Anggraini. They have two sons and four daughters; Tengku Iqbal, Tengku Natasya, Tengku Hafiz, Tengku Nadira, Tengku Najwa and, Tengku Nabila. Tengku Adnan has two sons and two daughters from his previous marriage; Tengku Daud, Tengku Balqish, Tengku Yazir and, Tengku Nadiah.

Political career

Tengku Adnan joined politics in the early 1980s. He became Treasurer of the UMNO Youth wing in 1988. He was elected to the UMNO Supreme Council in 1993 but lost the position in 1996. He was appointed as Federal Territory liaison chairman in June 2000. In 29 November 2001, he was appointed the Chairman of the Federal Territory Barisan Nasional. In 2003, he was appointed the Chief of the Putrajaya UMNO, and later he won the position again uncontested in the party election in June 2004. In September 2004, he was successful in a bid for an UMNO Supreme Council seat.

Tengku Adnan won the Parliamentary seat of Putrajaya in the March 2004 general election by defeating Abdul Rahman Othman of Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Tengku Adnan was appointed as the Tourism Minister, replacing Datuk Dr. Leo Michael Toyad, on 14 February 2006. He was dropped from the cabinet following the March 2008 general election, where the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition received a serious drubbing at the polls.

Controversies

Lingam Videoclip controversy

Tengku Adnan was called to testify in front of a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Lingam Video Clip investigating the allegation of illegal intervention in the appointment process of Malaysian judges that purportedly occurred in 2002. The formation of the commission was a follow-up to a recommendation by a three-man panel which was tasked to determine the authenticity of a video clip of a telephone conversation that raised the allegation.

Following the findings of the Royal Commission, the Malaysian cabinet ordered the Attorney-General to immediately direct agencies to investigate the allegations levelled against six prominent individuals identified in the Lingam video clip affair. The six are former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, retired chief justices Tun Mohd Eusoff Chin and Tun Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim, former minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, tycoon Tan Sri Vincent Tan and prominent lawyer Datuk V.K. Lingam.

There was sufficient cause to invoke the Sedition Act 1948, the Prevention of Corruption Act 1961, the Legal Profession Act 1976, the Official Secrets Act 1972 and the Penal Code against some of the principal individuals involved,[1] however as of recently, no action has been taken by the Barisan Nasional government against the individuals involved.

Female bloggers controversy

Tengku Adnan was involved in another controversy with regards to a statement he made about female bloggers where he was quoted as calling female bloggers liars. This caused an uproar among the blogger community and attracted a lot of negative reactions.[2] He was quoted as saying in Mandarin language Malaysian newspaper Sin Chew Daily and Singaporean daily, the Straits Times:

...All bloggers are liars, they cheat people using all kinds of methods. From my understanding, out of 10,000 unemployed bloggers, 8,000 are women.[3][4]

References

Preceded by
Leo Michael Toyad
Malaysian Minister of Tourism
14 February 2006 – March 17, 2008
Succeeded by
Azalina Othman Said