Muhammad Sanusi bin Md Nor

Biography

Muhammad Sanusi bin Md Nor (born 4 August 1974 in Kampung Sungai Pauh, Sik, Kedah) is the 14th Menteri Besar of Kedah, in office since May 2020, and has been the state assemblyman for Jeneri since 2018. A member of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), he is one of the most prominent figures associated with the "green wave" — the surge in PAS support across the northern and east-coast states at the 2022 general election and the 2023 state elections. Sanusi is the seventh of thirteen children and grew up in poverty. He was expelled from school twice, in part over unpaid fees, before completing his higher school certificate at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Derma in Perlis and taking a degree in political science at Universiti Sains Malaysia, where he trained as a naval reserve officer cadet. He worked his way up through PAS's organisational structure rather than its clerical wing: political secretary to the tenth Menteri Besar of Kedah, Azizan Abdul Razak, from 2008 to 2013; Kedah PAS deputy commissioner and Sik divisional commissioner from 2015; and central director-general of party security from 2017. He was the state's Leader of the Opposition from 2018 until PAS took the Kedah government in 2020, and served as Perikatan Nasional's election director from 2023. At the 2023 PAS party election he topped the poll for the central working committee with 1,098 votes. His tenure as Menteri Besar has been marked by frequent public controversy and by friction with the federal government and with neighbouring states, including disputes over water resources and development approvals. He published an autobiography in 2023.

Constituencies (1)

Electoral track record

205 mentions across 13 months

News mentions