Rafizi Ramli

This is a Malay name; the name Ramli is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Rafizi.
Yang Berhormat Tuan
Mohd Rafizi Ramli
MP
Rafizi in 2013
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Pandan
Incumbent
Assumed office
2013
Preceded by Ong Tee Keat (MCABN)
Majority 26,729 (2013)
Vice-President of Parti Keadilan Rakyat
Incumbent
Assumed office
22 August 2014
Secretary General of Parti Keadilan Rakyat
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 October 2014
Preceded by Saifuddin Nasution Ismail
Strategy Director of Parti Keadilan Rakyat
In office
Unknown  13 October 2014
Succeeded by Sim Tze Tzin
Personal details
Born 14 September 1977
Kemaman, Terengganu, Malaysia
Political party PKR – Pakatan Rakyat
Alma mater University of Leeds
Occupation Politician
Profession Chartered accountant
Religion Sunni Islam
Website http://rafiziramli.com/

Mohd Rafizi Ramli (born 14 September 1977) is a Malaysian politician. He is the Vice-President and Secretary-General of the People's Justice Party (PKR), and the Member of the Parliament of Malaysia for Pandan, Selangor. He is the co-founder of a whistle blower organization, National Oversight and Wistleblowers (NOW).[1]

Background

Rafizi was born in Besut, Terengganu and was raised in Kemaman, an east-coast town. He came from a humble background which his father was a rubber tapper. During his schooling days he was active in extra-curricular activities where he represented MCKK for debate championships as well as being a top student. After finishing his secondary education, he was awarded scholarship to study Electrical Engineering at University of Leeds. He worked for an accountant firm in United Kingdom and at the same time took professional papers and was qualified as a chartered accountant under ICAEW.[2] Upon returning to Malaysia in 2003, Rafizi worked for the Malaysian oil company Petronas from 2003 to 2009. During his tenure at Petronas, he had held many important portfolios including managing Petronas' 30 Billion petrochemical assets. In 2009 he became the general manager of the health care company Pharmaniaga, before being appointed as the Chief Executive of the Selangor Economic Advisory Office, a position he held until July 2012.[3] He dedicates his involvement in politics to Adlan, his close friend who had become his inspiration.[4] Rafizi was active in politics since his university days. When Anwar Ibrahim was sacked as the deputy prime minister of Malaysia in 1998 he became more involved politics and had joined in the Reformasi movement.

Political career

He was elected to Parliament in the 2013 election. PKR selected him to contest the seat of Pandan, the incumbent holder of which was Ong Tee Keat of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) in the governing Barisan Nasional coalition and the then, Minister of Transport. The MCA dropped the popular Ong as a candidate for the election. This decision was exploited by Rafizi, who repeatedly praised Ong on the campaign trail.[5] Rafizi enjoyed an enormous swing towards PKR to be elected by a margin of 26,729 votes, more than doubling the number received by the MCA candidate.[6] Prior to this, he was the strategy director for his party.

Kajang Move

Rafizi is a close ally of the PKR's parliamentary leader Anwar Ibrahim.[7] In 2014, Rafizi engineered the failed Kajang Move, which sought to oust Khalid Ibrahim, a PKR member, as Chief Minister of Selangor and install Anwar as his replacement. The move encountered a number of obstacles; it ultimately succeeded in forcing Khalid's resignation, but Azmin Ali, PKR's deputy president, replaced him instead.[8]

In October 2014, after the Kajang Move reached its conclusion, Rafizi was appointed as secretary-general of PKR, replacing Saifuddin Nasution Ismail as the leading administrative officer of the party.[9] Rafizi's appointment came two months after his election as one of the party's four vice-presidents.[10] The party's constitution permitted him to hold both his appointed and elected positions.[11]

Opposition

Rafizi Ramli has been a staunch critic of the Barisan Nasional led government. He had revealed many leakages in the government, including corruption and mismanagement. Among his infamous revelation for Barisan Nasional was the National Feedlot Corporation scandal which involved the Women, Family and Community Development minister, Shahrizat Abdul Jalil. Shahrizat and her family were accused of misusing RM250 million in public funds meant for a state cattle ranch in Gemas, Negeri Sembilan.[12] She's, however, were cleared out from this case by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Chamber (MACC).[13] He has also revealed malpractices and wastages in the government which includes awarding of over-priced closed tender projects and purchasing of overpriced assets. Pakatan Rakyat state government officials also have their part with the revelation of 14th Menteri Besar of Selangor, Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim out of court settlement with Bank Islam over the RM66.67mil Kumpulan Guthrie Bhd shares when Khalid was the group’s chief executive officer. His revelation,which liquified Khalid Ibrahim's integrity were a part which culminated the Kajang Move.[14]

Rafizi Ramli is an advocate for lower petrol prices. He criticised the government's move in 2014 to end petrol subsidies, arguing that it would benefit oil companies and petrol station owners but not the Malaysian people. He have prominently threaten to lead a street protest on 2015 New Year's eve if the government did not lowered the oil prices, following the fall of oil prices worldwide .[15][16][17][18][19] He has also advocated for changes to the way petrol prices are fixed by the government, to protect petrol station owners from the deleterious impacts of fluctuating prices.[20][21][22] His action for defending petrol station owners have attracted criticism from netizens and Utusan Malaysia for abandoning people's interest.[23][24][25]

Controversy

Law Suit

He have been charged for exposing confidential Public Bank's customer document in his pursuit of exposing the NFC scandal. Rafizi was charged in August 2012 under Banking and Financial Institutions Act (Bafia) 1989 for revealing four Public Bank customer-profile documents on the balance summaries of the NFC, National Meat and Livestock Sdn Bhd, Agroscience Industries Sdn Bhd and NFC chairman, Datuk Seri Mohamad Salleh Ismail.[26]

He allegedly disclosed the documents to media consultant Yusuf Abdul Alim and to The Star reporter Erle Martin Carvalho, at the PKR headquarters in Petaling Jaya on March 7, 2012.Bank clerk Johari Mohamad, 44, is also accused of conspiring with Rafizi.[27] [28] His effort to strike out the charges were rejected by High Court on 23rd November 2012, by Appeals Court on 23rd May 2013 and finally, by Federal Court on 6th April 2015.[29] His trial will begin 27th April 2015.[30][31]

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia: P100 Pandan, Selangor[32]
Year Opposition Votes Pct Barisan Nasional Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
2013 Rafizi Ramli (PKR) 48,183 66.73% Lim Chin Yee (MCA) 21,454 29.71% 73,225 26,729 87.32%

References

  1. http://nowmalaysia.org/#about-us
  2. "Rafizi quits as CEO of Selangor economic advisor’s office". The Malaysian Insider. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  3. Chooi, Clara (22 April 2013). "Rafizi rides on Tee Keat’s name in campaign for Pandan". The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  4. Chooi, Clara; Md Izwan (24 February 2013). "PKR mulled Tee Keat for Pandan but chose Rafizi, source says". The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  5. "Anwar, Azmin continue to shadow-box in PKR". The Rakyat Post. 25 August 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  6. Md Izwan (19 October 2014). "Azmin to bear PKR, Pakatan’s burden in a future without Anwar". The Malaysian Insider. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  7. Rahmah Ghazali (13 October 2014). "Rafizi appointed PKR secretary-general". The Star. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  8. "Rafizi, Shamsul Iskandar are new PKR veeps". Astro Awani. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  9. "Anwar: Not wrong for Rafizi to hold two posts in PKR". Bernama. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
  10. http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2012/05/31/NFC-scandal-Shahrizat-cleared-of-involvement/
  11. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2014/08/06/rafizi-dedah-kronologi-hutang-khalid-ibrahim/
  12. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/nasional/turun-harga-minyak-atau-rakyat-turun-ke-jalan-1.334659
  13. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/politik/protes-harga-minyak-pada-ambang-tahun-baru-1.341145
  14. http://www.harakahdaily.net/index.php/berita-utama/32318-subsidi-khairy-dedah-bn-memangsakan-rakyat
  15. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/nasional/harga-ron95-sebenar-di-bawah-rm2-1.343281
  16. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/nasional/pkr-bantah-kerajaan-hapus-subsidi-1.335516
  17. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/nasional/pengusaha-minyak-mangsa-keadaan-kata-rafizi-1.348329
  18. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/bahasa/article/stesen-minyak-bakal-gulung-tikar-akibat-penetapan-harga-kata-pkr
  19. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/nasional/pengusaha-minyak-mangsa-keadaan-kata-rafizi-1.348329
  20. http://m.utusan.com.my/rencana/politik-kritik-1.46643
  21. http://www.amenoworld.net/2015/01/rafizi-dikritik-kaw2-di-laman-sosial.html
  22. http://www.sinarharian.com.my/nasional/pengusaha-tak-akan-muflis-walau-minyak-turun-1.347881
  23. http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/court-orders-rafizi-to-stand-trial-over-nfc-bank-leaks
  24. http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/rafizis-bafia-trial-set-for-april-27#sthash.TuoUmEan.dpuf
  25. http://m.utusan.com.my/berita/mahkamah/bafia-rafizi-mula-dibicara-27-april-1.78783
  26. http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/04/06/rafizis-appeal-in-bank-info-leak-case-struck-out/
  27. http://www.mstar.com.my/berita/berita-mahkamah/2015/04/07/rafizi-nfc/
  28. http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/04/08/april-27-for-pkr-sec-gen-mohd-rafizis-bafia-trial/
  29. "P100: Pandan, Selangor". Utusan. Retrieved 19 October 2014. Independent and third party candidates are not included. Percentage figures are based on total turnout.