Ab Rauf Yusoh

Ab Rauf bin Yusoh (; born 20 September 1961) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 13th chief minister of Malacca since March 2023 and Member of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Tanjung Bidara since November 2021. He served as Senior Member of the Malacca State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Barisan Nasional (BN) state administration under former Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali from November 2021 to his promotion to the chief ministership in March 2023 and Speaker of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly from May 2020 to October 2021. He is a Member of Supreme Council and Division Chief of Masjid Tanah of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition. He has also served as the State Chairman of BN and UMNO of Malacca since July 2018.

Political career

Speaker of the Melaka State Legislative Assembly (2020–2021)

On 11 May 2020, Ab Rauf was elected as Speaker of the Melaka State Legislative Assembly to replace Omar Jaafar of PH after BN took over the state administration from PH on 9 March 2020. On 4 November 2021, he announced that the assembly had been dissolved after Chief Minister Sulaiman lost the majority support in the assembly due to the withdrawal support for him as Chief Minister by 4 MLAs.

Member of the Melaka State Legislative Assembly (since 2021)

In the 2021 Melaka state election, Ab Rauf made his electoral debut and was nominated by BN to contest for the Tanjung Bidara seat replacing the retiring MLA Md Rawi Mahmud. In the tightly contested election, he garnered 3,559 votes in total and narrowly defeated Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate Mas Ermieyati Samsudin who was also the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Parliament and Law as well as Member of Parliament (MP) for Masjid Tanah by a slim majority of only 364 votes.

Senior Member of the Melaka State Executive Council (2021–2023)

On 26 November 2021, Chief Minister Sulaiman appointed Ab Rauf as a Senior EXCO member for the portfolios of Investment, Industry, Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives. As the only Senior EXCO member, Ab Rauf was the de facto Deputy Chief Minister and second most powerful person in the state government of Melaka after Sulaiman. As the Senior EXCO member, Ab Rauf worked closely with the governmental organisations of the state such as Unit Perancangan Ekonomi Negeri (UPEN) Melaka, Malaysia Investment and Development Authority (MIDA), Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Melaka (PKNM) as well as other local and international private companies and corporations. He also helped the state to secure various development projects and direct investments. Among the notable ones is the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) railway network that applies the Magnetic Levitation (MagLev) technology and connects all the districts of the state.

Chief Minister of Melaka (since 2023)

Forming the EXCO and state government

On 31 March 2023, Ab Rauf was sworn in and appointed as the 13th Chief Minister of Melaka to take over Sulaiman who was confirmed to resign as Chief Minister two days ago on 29 March 2023. There were frequent speculations and rumours that Sulaiman was forced to resign as Chief Minister by Ab Rauf as well as Ab Rauf and Sulaiman had fallen out as the former who was the Melaka BN and UMNO Chairman was not appointed as Chief Minister after the 2021 state election, breaking the convention of the leader of the largest political coalition and party being appointed as the Chief Minister. Instead, Melaka UMNO Secretary Sulaiman was reappointed. However, both have also frequently denied the speculations and rumours. Before being appointed to the position, Deputy Prime Minister and BN Chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi explained that the decision of Sulaiman to resign was due to his "health problems", which have been questioned by many and proposed only Ab Rauf to Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Melaka Mohd Ali Rustam to be appointed as the new Chief Minister. His appointment also met criticisms from fellow BN Rembia MLA Muhammad Jailani Khamis who labelled him a "backdoor" Chief Minister. On the criticism of Jailani who broke rank with the party not to support him, he took the "wait and see" approach before deciding on any disciplinary actions against Jailani and urged him not to be a "hero" who get cheap political publicity by breaking rank with the party and criticising him. On the possibility of forming a coalition government with Pakatan Harapan (PH) by appointing PH MLAs to his EXCO, similar to the coalition government at the federal level, Ab Rauf added that he had yet to receive an indication from the central leadership of his party. He assured that his EXCO line-up would be finalised and unveiled in two days after discussions on it with Ahmad Zahid. He also pledged to make Melaka an investor-friendly state. He also noted that Melaka is the most politically stable state in Malaysia given that BN had gained a landslide victory in the 2021 state election. He characterised his upcoming EXCO lineup as inclusive and reflective of the coalition government at the federal level, indirectly confirming that his EXCO would consist of BN and PH MLAs and described it as pro-business and pro-reform. Ahmad Zahid also indirectly confirmed it. On 1 April 2023, Ab Rauf directly confirmed it and asked the people to expect an exemplary, appealing and attractive EXCO lineup. On 3 April 2023, Ab Rauf revealed that his EXCO will most likely be sworn in and appointed two days later on 5 April 2023 and the lineup had been accepted by Ahmad Zahid on 2 April 2023. On 5 April 2023, his EXCO was sworn in. He retained 7 EXCO members of the Sulaiman II EXCO and appointed three new EXCO members. The lineup consists of 10 BN MLAs and only 1 PH MLA. He also promoted Melaka UMNO Deputy Chairman Rais Yasin to Senior EXCO Member, a rank previously held by him, effectively making him the de facto Deputy Chief Minister and second most powerful person in the state government of Melaka after Ab Rauf and announced the reestablishment of the position of Deputy EXCO Member that was abolished in 2018. He added that the 10 EXCO members would have a deputy respectively and the 10 Deputy EXCO members were to be unveiled on 6 April 2023. He also rubbished the allegations that the appointments of Deputy EXCO Members are wastes of resources and money as he wanted all MLAs to be given roles to work with him on developing the state. On 6 April 2023, he demoted Low Chee Leong and Zaidi Attan to Deputy EXCO Members. Both of them previously served as EXCO Members. Demotion is rare in the Malaysian politics. After announcing the lineup of Deputy EXCO Members, he invited the two Melaka Opposition and PN MLAs to join his government in an effort to form a unity government, which is a government that has no opposition and comprises all Melaka MLAs. If it is done, it would be the first ever unity government in Melaka and Malaysia. He also added that he preferred finding similarities with Jailani than taking action against him. However, on 7 April 2023, his invitation was turned down by State Leader of the Opposition Mohd Yadzil Yaakub as they would like to check and balance the state government and not cross over for personal interests.

Election results

Honours

* :
** Commander of the Order of Meritorious Service (PJN) – Datuk (2010)
* :
** Knight Grand Commander of the Premier and Exalted Order of Malacca (DUNM) – Datuk Seri Utama (2023)
** Grand Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DGSM) – Datuk Seri (2017)
** Knight Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DCSM) – Datuk Wira (2014)
** Companion Class I of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DMSM) – Datuk (2002)
* :
** Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2015)

References

{{Menteris Besar and Chief Ministers

1961 births
Living people
Malaysian Muslims
United Malays National Organisation politicians
Malaysian politicians of Malay descent
Members of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly
Malacca state executive councillors
Speakers of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly
Chief ministers of Malacca
Commanders of the Order of Meritorious Service