Mahfuz bin Omar ( Jawi: محفوظ بن عمر; born 25 August 1957) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Chairman of the Farmers' Organisation Authority (FOA) since May 2023. He served as the Deputy Minister of Human Resources in 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) administration under former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

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 ...

and former Minister M. Kulasegaran from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 as well as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pokok Sena from November 1999 to March 2004 and again from March 2008 to November 2022. He is a member of the National Trust Party (AMANAH), a component party of the PH coalition and was a member of the

Malaysian Islamic Party The Malaysian Islamic Party, also known as the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Malay language, Malay: ''Parti Islam Se-Malaysia''; Abbreviation, abbrev: PAS), is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. Ideologically focused on Islamic fundamen ...

(PAS), then a component party of formerly the

Gagasan Sejahtera The Gagasan Sejahtera (English: ''Ideas of Prosperity'', abbrev: GS) was a coalition of opposition Islamist political parties which promote the "ideas of peace" in Malaysia. The informal electoral pact was formed initially on 16 March 2016 by ...

(GS),

Pakatan Rakyat Pakatan Rakyat (PR; ) was an informal Malaysian political coalition and successor to Barisan Alternatif (BA). The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP), and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Par ...

(PR),

Barisan Alternatif The Alternative Front ( Malay: ''Barisan Alternatif''; abbrev: BA) was a coalition of Malaysian opposition parties, formed as a counterweight to the ruling Barisan Nasional. Disbanded after the 2004 general elections, all 4 former component ...

(BA) and

Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah The Angkatan Perpaduan Ummah (APU or ''Muslims Unity Movement'') was an informal Malaysian political coalition. The now defunct political coalition was formed by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's formation of Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (S46 or Semangat 46 ...

(APU) coalitions. He has also served as the Vice President of AMANAH since September 2021. He served as the State Chairman of PH of Kedah from 2022 to February 2025.

Political career

Mahfuz was the head of

(PAS) youth wing from 1999 to 2003. Under his leadership, PAS Youth was a progressive voice within PAS, advocating for the party to join the

coalition with the

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...

(DAP) and the People's Justice Party (PKR). Mahfuz's leadership of PAS was the culmination of a long period of his activism within the party. He and a group of other PAS politicians were detained under the Internal Security Act in 1985, a period of intense and often violent hostility between PAS and the governing

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). He was briefly jailed again in 2000 for participating in an unauthorised protest rally against an

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

team visiting Malaysia. Mahfuz was elected to Parliament

in 1999 ''In 1999'' is a 1912 one-act comedic short play by William C. deMille, originally produced by Jesse L. Lasky, that was popular upon its release. Its gags are based on a future where gender roles are reversed. Production The piece debuted at t ...

but was defeated in the

2004 election The following elections occurred in the year 2004. Africa * 2004 Algerian presidential election * 2004 Botswana general election * 2004 Cameroonian presidential election * 2004 Comorian legislative election * 2004 Equatorial Guinean legislativ ...

by Abdul Rahman Ibrahim of the governing

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 ...

coalition. Mahfuz won back the seat at the 2008 election with a majority of 5,371 votes. He was re-elected in 2013, while all other PAS parliamentary candidates in Kedah were defeated. On 30 December 2017, Mahfuz had announced his decision to quit PAS which he had joined 34 years ago on 12 March 1984. On 15 March 2018, Mahfuz declared he had joined AMANAH, a splinter party of PAS. In the 2018 general election, Mahfuz again retained the Pokok Sena seat but as the AMANAH of Pakatan Harapan candidate for the first time.

Election results

Honours

* : ** Knight Commander of the

Glorious Order of the Crown of Kedah The Glorious Order of the Crown of Kedah (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Kebesaran Gemilang Sri Mahkota Kedah'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Kedah History It was founded by Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah in January 2001. Classes It is awa ...

(DGMK) – Dato' Wira (2019) ** Knight Companion of the

Order of Loyalty to the Royal House of Kedah The Illustrious Order of Loyalty to the Royal House of Kedah (Bahasa Melayu: ''Darjah Yang Mulia Setia di-Raja'') is an honorific order of the Sultanate of Kedah. History It was founded by Sultan Abdul Halim of Kedah on 21 September 1973. Cl ...

(DSDK) – Dato' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahfuz Omar Living people 1957 births People from Kedah Malaysian politicians of Malay descent Malaysian Muslims Former Malaysian Islamic Party politicians National Trust Party (Malaysia) politicians Malaysian MPs 1999–2004 Malaysian MPs 2008–2013 Malaysian MPs 2013–2018 Malaysian MPs 2018–2022

Political career

Election results

Honours

See also

References