Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia

Appointment

Malaysia has had a deputy prime minister since independence, but the prime minister may choose not to appoint a deputy prime minister. The office of deputy prime minister is not officially provided in the constitution of Malaysia. At the same time, a prime minister could appoint more than one deputy prime minister, as has occurred before in Singapore.

From August 1957 to May 2018, when the coalition government Barisan Nasional (BN), of which the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was the main component party, and the only ruling coalition, which by practice, the UMNO deputy president was usually appointed the deputy prime minister by the prime minister, who was the UMNO president. In the organisational structure of BN, the president and deputy president of UMNO were automatically made the chairman and deputy chairman of BN.

From May 2018 to February 2020, when Pakatan Harapan (PH), a political coalition of four parties, was the only ruling coalition, the holder of the position of deputy prime minister was decided upon by the presidential council of PH. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was the first female holder of office, was the post holder.

The position was vacant for 16 months since Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as prime minister in March 2020 after Perikatan Nasional (PN) was the ruling coalition until July 2021 after Ismail Sabri Yaakob was then appointed. However, he briefly served for 40 days before taking over as prime minister which made him the shortest-serving officeholder in history.

Since August 2021, when BN became again the ruling coalition, there have been no holders of the office of the deputy prime minister for 13 months before finally being replaced by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof, the first duo deputy prime minister in Malaysian history.

Deaths, resignations and removals from office

Of the thirteen previous officeholders, eight have stepped up to become Prime Ministers. Of the remaining, one died in office, two resigned, two were removed from office (both who later became Prime Ministers) by the sitting prime minister, and two disqualified from office due to defeat in the 2018 general election and collapse of the federal administration in 2020 political crisis.

Ismail Abdul Rahman died in office due to massive heart attack in 1973. Musa Hitam resigned from second Mahathir cabinet over differences with prime minister over government policy in 1986. Ghafar Baba resigned from his portfolio following UMNO grassroots lost confidence in his leadership and his position as Deputy President of UMNO was challenged by Anwar Ibrahim in the UMNO's top leadership election. Anwar Ibrahim was the first deputy prime minister to be sacked after being accused and subsequently charged with corruption and sodomy in 1998. Muhyiddin Yassin was the second DPM to be removed from office after being dropped from the Cabinet by former prime minister Najib Razak in a reshuffle in 2015. He later was sacked from his party. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's role as deputy prime minister ended after the seventh Mahathir cabinet was dissolved due to its fall from the federal administration in 2020.

List of deputy prime ministers of Malaysia

Colour key (for political parties):

Timeline

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DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/1957 till:01/01/2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1957

Colors = id:lightpurple value:lightpurple legend:ALLIANCE id:blue value:blue legend:BN id:red value:red legend:PH id:pink value:pink legend:GPS

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TextData = pos:(20,27) textcolor:black fontsize:M text:"Party:"

BarData = bar:Abraisar bar:Isarhu bar:Husonn bar:Mamo bar:Musa bar:Agb bar:Abi bar:Paklah bar:Najibraz bar:Abah bar:Zahid bar:Wawi bar:Ismail bar:Yusof

PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till bar:Abraisar from: 31/07/1957 till: 22/09/1970 color:lightpurple text:"Abdul Razak Hussein" fontsize:9 bar:Isarhu from: 22/09/1970 till: 02/08/1973 color:lightpurple text:"Ismail Abdul Rahman" fontsize:9 bar:Husonn from: 13/08/1973 till: 31/05/1974 color:lightpurple from: 01/06/1974 till: 15/01/1976 color:blue text:"Hussein Onn" fontsize:9 bar:Mamo from: 05/03/1976 till: 16/06/1981 color:blue text:"Mahathir Mohamad" fontsize:9 bar:Musa from: 18/07/1981 till: 16/03/1986 color:blue text:"Musa Hitam" fontsize:9 bar:Agb from: 10/05/1986 till: 15/10/1993 color:blue text:"Abdul Ghafar Baba" fontsize:9 bar:Abi from: 01/12/1993 till: 02/09/1998 color:blue text:"Anwar Ibrahim" fontsize:9 bar:Paklah from: 08/01/1999 till: 31/10/2003 color:blue text:"Abdullah Ahmad Badawi" fontsize:9 bar:Najibraz from: 07/01/2004 till: 03/04/2009 color:blue text:"Mohd Najib Abdul Razak" fontsize:9 bar:Abah from: 10/04/2009 till: 28/07/2015 color:blue text:"Muhyiddin Yassin" fontsize:9 bar:Zahid from: 29/07/2015 till: 09/05/2018 color:blue bar:Wawi from: 21/05/2018 till: 24/02/2020 color:red text:"Wan Azizah Wan Ismail" fontsize:9 bar:Ismail from: 07/07/2021 till: 16/08/2021 color:blue text:"Ismail Sabri Yaakob" fontsize:9 bar:Zahid from: 03/12/2022 till: end color:blue text:"Ahmad Zahid Hamidi" fontsize:9 bar:Yusof from: 03/12/2022 till: end color:pink text:"Fadillah Yusof" fontsize:9

References

References

1. "CPPS Policy Factsheet: Remuneration of Elected Officials in Malaysia". Centre for Public Policy Studies.
2. (7 July 2021). "Ismail Sabri appointed DPM, Hishammuddin now senior minister".
3. "Tun Ismail bin Datoʿ Abdul Rahman {{!}} Malay politician".
4. (28 July 2015). "Muhyiddin terima penggugurannya dengan hati terbuka". Utusan Malaysia.
5. (24 June 2018). "UMNO sacks former Malaysian DPM Muhyiddin Yassin and Mukhriz Mahathir". Channel NewsAsia.