DATUK SERI SAIFUDDIN NASUTION ISMAIL

Biography

Saifuddin Nasution bin Ismail (born 7 December 1963) is Minister of Home Affairs in the unity government led by Anwar Ibrahim, a post he has held since December 2022. Because he lost his parliamentary seat at the 2022 general election, he sits in the cabinet as a senator rather than an elected member of the Dewan Rakyat. He is a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR) and has been chief secretary of the Pakatan Harapan coalition since 2020. He was born in Singapore, then part of Malaysia, and took a degree in agriculture from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia in 1987. He began in UMNO's youth wing but was expelled in 1999 as its assistant secretary; an ally of Anwar Ibrahim, he joined the opposition KeADILan party, which later became PKR. His electoral record spans four decades and three states. He lost Padang Serai in 1999, won the Kedah state seat of Lunas at a by-election in 2000, lost Padang Serai again in 2004, then won the Kelantan seat of Machang in 2008. He moved back to Kedah for Kulim–Bandar Baharu in 2013 and lost, took the seat in 2018 — winning the Penang state seat of Pantai Jerejak at the same time — and lost it again in 2022. Saifuddin was PKR secretary-general from 2010 to 2014 and again from 2016 to 2024, making him one of the party's longest-serving organisers. He was Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in the 2018–2020 Pakatan Harapan government. As Home Minister he oversees the police, immigration, prisons and publication controls, and his tenure has drawn debate over the use of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act and of powers under the Printing Presses and Publications Act.

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Electoral track record

95 mentions across 3 months

News mentions