Fadillah Yusof

Biography

Fadillah bin Yusof (born 17 April 1962 in Sibu, Sarawak) is a Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation. He has represented Petra Jaya in the Dewan Rakyat since 2004 and is a senior vice-president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the dominant party in the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) coalition. He is the first Sarawakian to hold the deputy premiership, and only the second deputy prime minister from outside UMNO. His appointment in December 2022 reflected the pivotal role Sarawak's bloc of MPs played in assembling the unity government after the 2022 general election produced no majority. Fadillah is the ninth of fourteen children. His father, Yusof Merais, was active in Sarawak's anti-cession movement against British rule and was imprisoned twice; the family was supported during those years by his mother's work as a domestic helper and seamstress. He was educated at St Mary's Primary School in Sibu and, on a Yayasan Sarawak scholarship, at Panglima Bukit Gantang Secondary School in Perak, before completing a law degree in both civil and Sharia law at the University of Malaya in 1986. He practised as a lawyer and held office in PBB — including as its youth chief from 2007 to 2017 — before winning Petra Jaya in 2004. He was made Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation in 2008 and promoted to Minister of Works in 2013, a portfolio he held again under Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob. During the 2018–2020 opposition years he served as GPS parliamentary whip and chaired a parliamentary select committee. He briefly held the Plantation and Commodities portfolio before the December 2023 reshuffle moved him to energy transition and water.

Constituencies (1)

Electoral track record

197 mentions across 6 months

News mentions