Hishammuddin Hussein

Yang Berhormat Datuk Seri Panglima Hishammuddin Tun Hussein MP
Hishammuddin Hussein in 2006 as Education Minister.
Malaysian Minister of Defence
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2013
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Malaysian Minister of Transport (Acting)
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 May 2013
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Kong Cho Ha
Vice President of United Malays National Organisation
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 March 2009
President	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Mohd Ali Rustam
Malaysian Minister of Home Affairs
In office 10 April 2009 – 5 May 2013
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Syed Hamid Albar
Succeeded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Malaysian Minister of Education
In office 31 March 2004 – 9 April 2009
Prime Minister	Abdullah Badawi
Preceded by	Musa Mohamad
Succeeded by	Muhyiddin Yassin
Chairman of UMNO's Youth Wing
In office 31 March 2004 – 26 March 2009
Preceded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Succeeded by	Khairy Jamaluddin
Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sports
In office 1999 – 30 March 2004
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohammed
Preceded by	Muhyiddin Yassin
Succeeded by	Azalina Othman Said
Personal details
Born	(1961-08-05) 5 August 1961 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Political party	UMNO – Barisan Nasional
Spouse(s)	Yang Mulia Tengku Datin Seri Marsilla Tengku Abdullah
Relations	Tun Hussein Onn (father)
Occupation	Malaysia Member of Parliament
Religion	Islam

Datuk Seri Panglima Hishammuddin bin Tun Hussein (born 5 August 1961) is a Malaysian politician and member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). He is currently the Minister of Defence and acting Minister of Transport since 16 May 2013. He served in the government of Malaysia as Minister of Home Affairs from 2009 to 2013 and Minister of Education from 2004 to 2009. He has been mentioned as a likely successor to his cousin, Prime Minister Najib Razak.^[1] He is the son of Malaysia's third prime minister, Tun Hussein Onn and the nephew of Malaysia's second prime minister, Tun Abdul Razak.

Family Ties

Datuk Seri Panglima Hishammuddin is the son of Hussein Onn, the third Prime Minister of Malaysia and the grandson of Dato' Onn Jaafar, a prominent Malay leader and the founder of UMNO. He is also the cousin of the current Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Tun Razak.

His wife, Yang Mulia Tengku Datin Seri Panglima Marsilla Tengku Abdullah, is a princess from the state of Pahang, Malaysia.

Hishamuddin's daughter recently married the son of a local business tycoon Muhd Anas Zawawi Datuk Seri Khalid Muhd Jiwa.^[2]

Education

He was attending Malay College Kuala Kangsar before his father became Deputy Prime Minister in 1973. Upon his father's appointment to the post, he attended St. John's Institution in Kuala Lumpur before going on to the Alice Smith School, also in Kuala Lumpur. From Alice Smith School, he went to the English public school, Cheltenham College.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth in 1984. He also attended London School of Economics and received a Master of Laws (LL.M) in Commercial and Corporate Law in 1988.

Before Joining Malaysia's Politics

Prior to his commencing his political career, Hishammuddin was formerly a lawyer with the large Malaysian firm then known as Skrine & Co. (now known as Skrine) and later, a firm then known as Lee Hishammuddin (now known as Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill) in Kuala Lumpur

Political Career

Hishamuddin is a Sri Tambak, Sembrong, Johor UMNO member. He is now holding the position as the branch leader of UMNO Sembrong Branch. Before this he was elected as the youth chief of UMNO Malaysia.

He was elected as a member of parliament Tenggara in the 1995 general election. In the year 1999, he was able to retain the position.

However. because of the new area border made by the Election Commission, he was transferred to a new constituency which is Sembrong, the seat he is currently holding now. He later defeated PAS candidate Onn Jaafar with the majority of 16, 978 votes in PRU-11 eight years ago.

Among his popular campaign promise was to develop the Sembrong constituency towards a better and stronger Malaysia.

During his tenure as a parliament member he was positioned in various ministries in the Malaysian government. In 1995 he was elected as the Parliamentary Secretary of the International Trade and Industry.

He was then appointed as the Deputy Minister of Main Industry in 1997, and in 1999 he was appointed as a Minister of Youth and Sport. After 2004 election he holds the position of Malaysia's education minister.^[3]

Past and Present Position Hishamuddin Hussein

Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysia. (11 May 1995 to 18 August 1997)^[4]

Deputy Minister of Ministry of Primary Industries, Malaysia (18 August 1997 to 5 December 1999)

Minister of Youth and Sports (14 December 1999 to 3 March 2004)

Minister of Education (30 March 2004 to 8 April 2009)

Minister of Home Affairs (10 April 2009 to 5 May 2013)^[5]

Minister of Defence (16 May 2013 until now)

Minister of Transport (acting from 16 May 2013 until now)^[6]

UNESCO Executive Board Member (2008 to 2009)

SEAMEO Council- Vice President (March 2007 to March 2008)

SEAMEO Council- President (March 2008 to March 2009)

Controversies

Waving the keris

Hishammuddin's act of waving the keris (traditional Malay dagger) at the UMNO Annual General Meeting in 2005 drew applause from the UMNO delegates.

In 2005, Hishammuddin waved the keris at the UMNO Annual General Meeting. Since the independence of Malaysia, the keris has become something of a symbol of Malay nationalism. It is still regarded by some as a symbol of ketuanan Melayu, the doctrine of the Malay race as the dominant race at their homeland, and has been incorporated into the Sang Saka Bangsa, the official flag of the United Malays National Organisation.^[7] As such some commentators perceived this action as a defense of Malay Special Rights (Hak Keistimewaan Melayu) detailed in Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia and in the social contract. Although applauded by the Malay delegates, the picture of Hishammuddin waving the keris was widely ridiculed in the Malaysian blogosphere. Due to this incident some section of the public referred to him as Hishammudin Tauke Keris (The Keris Merchant) or simply as Hishammudin Keris.^[8]

In response to concerns over the racial rhetoric, then Vice President Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said that "Although some sides were a bit extreme [this year], it is quite normal to voice feelings during the assembly."^[9]

The Deputy Chief of the Youth wing, Khairy Jamaluddin, insisted that "while there is nothing extraordinary about this year’s congress and that similar sentiments have been raised in the past, these feelings have never compromised the ultimate manifestation of governance in this country through BN’s power-sharing formula."^[10]

Hishammuddin also defended the delegates' actions, saying that events earlier in the year related to the status of Islam in Malaysia and the NEP had "played on the Malay psyche. If they had not been allowed to release their feelings in a controlled channel, it could have been even worse." He defended his usage of the keris, saying it was meant "to motivate the Malays" and that it "is here to stay", denying that it was a symbol of Malay supremacy (ketuanan Melayu).^[11]

Hishammuddin also asserted that "The keris is on the UMNO flag... It is a symbol of Malay culture. You give keris as gifts to non-Malays, and non-Malays give them to me at functions."

However, Chinese politicians declared themselves unconvinced by Hishammuddin's explanations, with the Malaysian Chinese Association (a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition) Youth chief, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, saying that "If I hold a Chinese sword at a wushu function, it would be different than if I hold one at a political event. This was a political function, so it is seen in a different context. It can create uneasiness."^[12]

Cow Head Demonstration

Hishammuddin found himself being attacked by the opposition when Hishammuddin took a firm stand trying to solve the "cow-head demonstration issue". In 2009 residents of Taman Ixora Section 23, Shah Alam, were shocked as the state government wanted to relocate a temple in a majority Muslim area. It was reported that 95% of the resident are Muslim families while only 0.5% Hindus. The protest was caught on video by the Malaysian news online portal Malaysiakini. ^[13]

The protesters, with a group of about 50, marched a few hundred meters carrying the decapitated head of a cow. The cow is a sacred animal in the Hindu religion.

In response, the Malaysian Home Minister invited the protesters to a discussion. The protesters were charged under illegal demonstration where two of them was found guilty. The Menteri Besar of Selangor from PKR stated that the demonstration was not UMNO's doing.^[14]

Hishammuddin defended the actions of the protesters saying that they cannot be blamed. He cited several reasons:

• Although the demonstration was illegal & without a government-issued permit, the protesters had limited the size of their demonstration
• The state government had made a poor decision in relocating the Hindu temple
• People should be allowed space to voice their opinions
• Similar incidents have happened before (pig heads being thrown into UMNO grounds)

Hishamuddin, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), the government multimedia agency, sent a letter to Malaysiakini.com appealing for it to take down both videos. This has been interpreted by some as damage control by the government due to the sensitive nature of the embarrassing press conference.^[15]

Accusation of Anwar Ibrahim as a CIA agent

In July 2010, he had, along with Information Minister Rais Yatim, accused Anwar Ibrahim of being a CIA agent based on a blog article.^[16] However, Hishamuddin admitted the Home Ministry "doesn't know if Anwar is a tool (of the CIA) or not". This revelation was not based on any evidence, as he admitted, but on an article by an American blogger.^[17] Mysteriously, he added that "action" would only be taken if "national security" was threatened although espionage, i.e. working for a foreign intelligence agency, is a crime.^[18]

According to John Malott, a former US Ambassador in Malaysia from 1995 to 1998, this was not the first time UMNO made these accusations. In 2000, he had dealt with these allegations when the Malaysian government failed to prosecute Anwar. This time round it seems the government is unwilling to prosecute too. "Today, twelve years after I met with Abdullah (Badawi, who was then Foreign Minister), Malaysia still has not offered any proof that Anwar is an American agent - because it is NOT true," he wrote. Malott also accused the Malaysian government and various media of disseminating false news.^[19]

Despite Hishamuddin admitting that they had no evidence to actually arrest Anwar, Rais pled to former UMNO members in PKR to rejoin the Malay party^[20]

Notes and references

• Ooi, Jeff (2005). "The 30% solution". Retrieved Nov. 17, 2005.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hishammuddin Hussein.

• Sembrong Community Portal