Md Salleh bin Md Said ( Jawi: محمد صالح بن محمد سعيد; born 10 July 1957), commonly known as Salleh Said Keruak, 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 Member of the

Sabah State Legislative Assembly The Sabah State Legislative Assembly ( Kadazandusun: ''Langga' Tinukuan Pogun Sabah'', ) is a part of the legislature of Sabah, Malaysia, the other being the governor of Sabah. The assembly meets at the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Buildin ...

for Usukan from February 1994 to March 2004, from May 2013 to May 2018 and again since September 2020. He served as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia 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 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 ...

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 ...

from July 2015 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018, 9th

Chief Minister of Sabah The chief minister of Sabah is the head of government of Sabah, Malaysia. Since September 2020, the position has been held by Hajiji Noor from the Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) from the coalition of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) w ...

from December 1994 to May 1996, Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly from December 2010 to July 2015,

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from July 2015 to July 2018 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Kota Belud from April 1995 to March 2008.

Educational background

He Is a bachelor's graduate from

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

and holds a PhD in political science and government from

Universiti Putra Malaysia University of Putra Malaysia ( Malay: ''Universiti Putra Malaysia''), abbreviated as UPM, is a Malaysian public research university located in Serdang, Selangor. Formerly it was named Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (Agricultural University of ...

Career

After finishing his further studies, he was designated as Kota Belud District Officer from 1984 to 1986 and later became a Political Secretary to the sitting Chief Minister's administration from 1986 to 1994. In addition, he also held some positions in the Cabinet of Sabah. For many years, he served as the Minister of Finance, Minister of Local Government and Housing and Deputy Chief Minister. On 28 December 1994, 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 ...

nominated him as the Chief Minister of the state. His tenure as the state's Chief Minister ended on 28 May 1996 and was succeeded by

Sabah Progressive Party The Sabah Progressive Party (, abbreviated SAPP) is a multiracial political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. It was registered on 21 January 1994 by dissidents led by former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee from United Sabah Party. Form ...

(SAPP) President,

Yong Teck Lee Yong Teck Lee or also better known as ''Malay titles#Datuk Sri, Datuk Seri Panglima Mr.'' YTL ''(name abbreviation)'' ( zh, t=楊德利, s=杨德利, p=Yáng Délì; born 3 October 1958) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who has served as t ...

. On 4 January 2010, then-Chief Minister,

Musa Aman Musa bin Aman (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: موسى بن حاج أمان; born 30 March 1951) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 11th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah since January 2025. He served as the 14th Chief Minister of Sabah from M ...

, appointed him as his government's Science and Technology Adviser with ministerial rank. He succeeded Tham Nyip Shen, a former Deputy Chief Minister for the ethnic Chinese quota who hailed from Keningau. Later on 31 December of the same year, he was appointed the Speaker of the

State Legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

. A day later, on the first day of 2011, he was appointed the

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) by the then-Federal Minister of Information, Communications and Culture, Dr.

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 ...

. Under the party of

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 previously served Sabah state liaison committee deputy chairperson from 2006 to 2018, serving under the long-term chairmanship of then-Chief Minister, Musa Aman who was concurrently the state liaison committee chairperson from 2003 to 2018 (but now he currently serves as its elections machinery director since the crucial party elections in 2018). In addition, he also presides over the United Sabah Bajau Organisation (USBO). On 6 October 2019, he admitted that he submitted a party membership application to the People’s Justice Party (PKR) as the party is multiracial and it is in line with Salleh's political beliefs, especially focusing on the future of the Malaysian state in East Malaysia,

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

. On 30 June 2020, he canceled his application to join PKR in the aftermath of the 2020 political crisis. On 9 September 2020, Salleh rejoined UMNO.

Family

He is the son of

Mohammad Said Keruak Mohammad Said bin Keruak (15 November 1925 – 17 November 1995) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 7th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah from January 1987 to December 1994 and 4th Chief Minister of Sabah briefly from November 1975 to ...

, the 7th

Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah The Governor of Sabah, officially Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah (''Malay: Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah'') is the ceremonial head of state of Sabah, Malaysia. The Yang di-Pertua Negeri is styled ''Tuan Yang Terutama'' (TYT; "His Excellency"). Th ...

and the 4th Chief Minister of Sabah. He is currently married to Datin Seri Panglima Datuk Raya Erom (born 21 April 1963), an ethnic Kadazandusun woman of Lotud descent from

Tuaran Tuaran () is the town and capital of the Tuaran District in the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It is located north of the state capital Kota Kinabalu, and is strategically situated along the main highway linking Kota Kinabalu with the ...

, since 18 December 1984. Prior to their marriage, she was a Roman Catholic Christian before converting to

Sunni Islam Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...

in order to marry Salleh. The couple are blessed with two sons and two daughters: Mohd Syarulnizam (born 1986), Syazeera (born 1988), Mohd Hafeez (born 1996) and Syeera (born 2002). In addition, Salleh is also the second cousin of Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis, the incumbent Kota Belud MP.

Election results

Honours

* : **

Grand Commander of the

Order of Kinabalu The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu (Malay: ''Darjah Yang Amat Mulia Kinabalu'') is the only order conferred by the Governor of Sabah, Malaysia. Background The Illustrious Order of Kinabalu is established by virtue of Section 3(a) of State Honou ...

(SPDK) – Datuk Seri Panglima (1996) ** MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - PGDK

Commander of the

(PGDK) – Datuk (1990) ** Justice of the Peace (JP) (2014) * : ** MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca

Grand Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DGSM) – Datuk Seri (1996)

References

External links

Personal blogsite
{{Authority control 1958 births Living people Bajau people Malaysian Muslims People from Kota Belud District Malaysian bloggers United Malays National Organisation politicians United Sabah Party politicians Chief ministers of Sabah Sabah state ministers Speakers of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Members of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Government ministers of Malaysia Members of the Dewan Negara Grand Commanders of the Order of Kinabalu Simon Fraser University alumni Malaysian MPs 1995–1999 Malaysian MPs 1999–2004 Malaysian MPs 2004–2008