Yang Berbahagia Dato' Sri Ahmad Shabery bin Cheek ( Jawi: ; born 10 December 1958) is a Malaysian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who has served as Chairman of the

Federal Land Development Authority The Federal Land Development Authority (Felda; , LKTP) is a Malaysian government agency that was founded to handle the resettlement of rural poor into newly developed areas (''colonies'', ''settlements'' or ''schemes'') and to organize smallho ...

(FELDA) since July 2023. He served as

Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security of Malaysia is Mohamad Sabu, since 3 December 2022. Mohamad is assisted by Deputy Minister. The Minister administers the portfolio through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. List of min ...

, Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Minister of Youth and Sports and Parliamentary Secretary of Foreign Affairs in the

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

(BN) administration under former Prime Ministers

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi (, ; 26 November 1939 – 14 April 2025), also known as Pak Lah, was a Malaysian politician and civil servant who served as the fifth prime minister of Malaysia from 2003 to 2009. A member of UMNO, he was the party's ...

and

Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...

as well as former Minister

Rais Yatim Rais bin Yatim ( Jawi: رئيس بن يتيم; born 16 April 1942) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as the 18th President of the Dewan Negara from September 2020 to June 2023, 8th Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan from 1978 t ...

from 2006 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kemaman from March 2004 to May 2018. He is a member of the

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...

(UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition and was a member of the

Parti Melayu Semangat 46 The Parti Melayu Semangat 46 or ''Spirit of 46 Malay Party (S46)'' was a Malaysian political party. The party was formed in 1988, and dissolved in 1996. It was formed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's "Team B" faction of the United Malays National Or ...

(S46), a component party of the Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU) and

Gagasan Rakyat The Gagasan Rakyat (GR or ''People's Might'') was an opposition Malaysian political coalition. The now defunct political coalition was founded by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's formation of Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (S46 or Semangat 46) after leaving ...

(GR) coalitions. He was also Member of the Supreme Council of UMNO.

Education and early career

Ahmad Shabery was born in Kijal, Kemaman, Terengganu on 10 December 1958 and received his early education in both Sekolah Sungai Lembing,

Kuantan Kuantan (Pahang Malay: ''Kontaeng''; Terengganu Malay: ''Kuatang/Kuantang'') is a city and the state capital of Pahang, Malaysia. It is located near the mouth of the Kuantan River. Kuantan is the Largest cities in Malaysia, 12th largest city ...

(primary) as well as in

Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak Sekolah Dato' Abdul Razak (; abbreviated SDAR) is a premiere, Sekolah Berasrama Penuh () for boys in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. It is one of the most prestigious schools in Malaysia, selecting the best students in the country and is ...

Seremban Seremban (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Somban'') is a city in the Seremban District and the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan in Peninsular Malaysia. The city's administration is run by the Seremban Municipal Council, Seremban City Council. ...

(secondary). In 1983, he pursued a course in economics at

Universiti Malaya The Universiti Malaya (lit 'University of Malaya'; abbreviated UM) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest Malaysian institution of higher education, and was the only university in newly independent ...

and graduated with a bachelor's degree. During this period, he was also elected as the president of the university's Muslim Students Association. In 1986, he obtained his master's degree from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

and in 1989, he obtained a postgraduate diploma in International Relations from the

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in Sweden. That same year, he was appointed the Secretary of the Malaysian Social Science Association (PSSM). In 1990, he became a lecturer in the University Malaya's Faculty of Economics and Administration. He has also served as a Research Fellow at the

Institute of Southeast Asian Studies An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ca ...

in Singapore.

Political career

Ahmad Shabery left UMNO in 1989 to join other members rebelling against the then-Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...

in the newly formed breakaway

(S46), until its dissolution in 1996 where he rejoined UMNO again. In 2004, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Kemaman, defeating incumbent Abd Rahman Yusof of the People's Justice Party (PKR) by 15,882 votes. In 2008, he retained the seat after beating PKR's Fariz Musa by 12,682 votes, and won again in 2013, defeating Kamaruddin Chik (PKR) by 12,306 votes. But in the 2018 general election, he lost the parliamentary seat. After the 12th general elections in 2008, which saw the incumbent Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin lose his parliamentary seat, the then-Prime Minister

appointed Ahmad as Zainuddin's replacement. In April 2009, he was appointed as Minister of Youth and Sports in a minor cabinet reshuffle. On 15 July 2008, Ahmad Shabery Cheek participated in a historic debate on the national fuel price with then-opposition leader

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim (; born 10 August 1947), also known by his abbreviation as DSAI and PMX, is a Malaysian politician who is the 10th prime minister of Malaysia since 2022. A member of the People's Justice Party (Malaysia), People's Justice P ...

, which was televised live. After the 13th general elections in 2013, he was appointed as Minister of Communications and Multimedia for a second time round, after holding the same position in 2008 under a differently named portfolio known as the Ministry of Information. In 2015, he was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry in a cabinet reshuffle. When he and BN lost in the 2018 general election, he was replaced by

Salahuddin Ayub Salahuddin bin Ayub (; 1 December 1961 – 23 July 2023) was a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Domestic Trade and Costs of Living in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim from December 2022 to ...

from the

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

(PH) new government.

Chairman of the Federal Land Development Authority (since 2023)

On 28 June 2023, Ahmad Shabery was declared the new Chairman of FELDA succeeding Idris Jusoh. His appointment took effect on 1 July 2023. His appointment was welcomed positively, in which it marked as an enabler of the progress for the transformation efforts of FELDA to benefit both the existing and new generations of settlers.

Election results

Honours

* : **

MY-TER Order of the Crown of Terengganu - SPMT - SMT - AMT

Companion of the

Order of the Crown of Terengganu The Most Distinguished Order of the Crown of Terengganu (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Terengganu Yang Amat Mulia'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Terengganu. History It was founded by Sultan Ismail Nasiruddin of Terengg ...

(SMT) (2005) ** MY-TER Order of the Crown of Terengganu - Dato Paduka - DPMT

Knight Commander of the

(DPMT) – Dato' (2007) * : ** MY-PAH Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang - Grand Knight - SSAP

Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2010)

References