Member of Cabinet Residence Seri Satria | Reports to Parliament Nominator Prime Minister | |
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Style Yang Amat Berhormat (The Most Honourable) Seat Perdana Putra, Putrajaya | ||
The Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia (Malay: Timbalan Perdana Menteri Malaysia) is the second highest political office in Malaysia. There have been eleven deputy prime ministers since the office was created in 1957. The first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, started the convention of appointing a Deputy Prime Minister.
Contents
- Official residence
- Deputy Prime Minister appointment
- Deaths resignations and removals from office
- List of Deputy Prime Ministers of Malaysia
- Living former deputy prime ministers
- References
The current Deputy Prime Minister is Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who took office on 29 July 2015.
Official residence
The official residence for Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia is Sri Satria in Putrajaya. Before Sri Satria, the first Deputy Prime Minister official residence is Seri Taman.
Deputy Prime Minister appointment
Although Malaysia has always had a Deputy Prime Minister since independence, a Prime Minister may choose not to appoint a Deputy Prime Minister. The office of Deputy Prime Minister is not provided for in the Constitution of Malaysia. At the same time, a Prime Minister could appoint more than one Deputy Prime Minister, as has occurred before in Singapore.
By the past practice of the component parties of Barisan Nasional (the ruling coalition) of which the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) is the unofficial leader, the UMNO Deputy President is appointed Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia by the Prime Minister of Malaysia (who is the UMNO President). In the organisational structure of Barisan Nasional, the President and Deputy President of UMNO are automatically made the Chairman and Deputy Chairman of Barisan Nasional. This position, currently however, were filled by Dato' Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, a Vice-President of UMNO. This is the second time the position were filled by a non-Deputy President of UMNO, the first time was when Tun Ghafar Baba held the office for a year as a Vice-President of UMNO (1986–1987).
Deaths, resignations and removals from office
Of the ten previous officeholders, five have gone on to become prime minister. Of the remaining, one died in office, two resigned, and two were removed from office by the sitting prime minister.
Ismail Abdul Rahman died in office due to massive heart attack in 1973. Musa Hitam resigned from second Mahathir cabinet over differences with Prime Minister over government policy in 1986. Ghafar Baba resigned from his portfolio following UMNO grassroots lost confidence in his leadership and his position as Deputy President of UMNO was challenged by Anwar Ibrahim in the UMNO's top leadership election. Anwar Ibrahim was the first deputy prime minister to be sacked after being accused and subsequently charged with corruption and sodomy in 1998. Muhyiddin Yassin was the second DPM to be removed from office after being dropped from the Cabinet by Prime Minister Najib Razak in a reshuffle in 2015.
List of Deputy Prime Ministers of Malaysia
Colour key (for political parties):
Alliance Party Barisan Nasional
Living former deputy prime ministers
Below are the living former deputy prime minister(s) who do not hold the position of prime minister.