Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak (born 23 July 1953) is the sixth and current
Prime Minister of Malaysia. He was sworn in to the position on 3 April 2009 to succeed
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He is the President of the
United Malays National Organisation, the leading party in Malaysia's ruling
Barisan Nasional coalition.
Najib is the eldest son of
Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysia's second Prime Minister, and the nephew of
Hussein Onn, Malaysia's third. He was elected to the
Parliament of Malaysia in 1976, at the age of 23, replacing his deceased father in the
Pahang-based seat of
Pekan. From 1982 to 1986 he was the
Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Pahang, before entering the federal
Cabinet of
Mahathir Mohamad
in 1986 as the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. He served in
various Cabinet posts throughout the remainder of the 1980s and 1990s,
including as Minister for Defence and Minister for Education. He became
Deputy Prime Minister on 7 January 2004, serving under Prime Minister
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, before replacing Badawi a year after Barisan Nasional suffered heavy losses in the
2008 election.
Najib's tenure as Prime Minister has been marked by economic
liberalisation measures, such as cuts to government subsidies, loosening
of restrictions on foreign investment, and reductions in preferential
measures for ethnic Malays in business. His Barisan Nasional coalition
was re-elected at the
2013 election,
albeit with a reduced majority due in large part to a substantial
movement of urban voters to opposition parties. After the election his
government was marked by the pursuit of a number of its critics on
sedition charges, the imprisonment of opposition leader
Anwar Ibrahim following a conviction for sodomy, the implementation of a
Goods and Services Tax, and an
ongoing scandal involving state investment firm
1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Najib's various subsidy cuts have contributed to soaring
living costs,
[1] while fluctuating oil prices have led to a steady depreciation of the Malaysian
ringgit.
[2]