KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 6 — In unseating Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's allies from ruling Perak, Barisan Nasional has ironically put former follower Datuk Dr Zambry Abdul Kader as the state's menteri besar.
The two-term Pangkor assemblyman was in Umno Youth when Anwar was sacked in 1998 and was briefly held under the Internal Security Act together with several other Umno Youth leaders in the aftermath, including current Perak Umno deputy chief Datuk Ahmad Zahid Hamid.
They were released weeks later but Anwar spent six years in jail for sodomy and corruption convictions before the Federal Court freed him on Sept 2, 2004.
The 47-year-old was said to be close to many of Anwar's associates including then Penang Umno Youth chief Abdul Rahim Ghouse and political secretary Ezam Mohd Noor. He is thought to be one of those who facilitated the former PKR Youth chief's return to Umno.
His meteoric rise in Umno came in 1992 when he became Pangkor Umno Youth chief and later led the Perak Umno Youth. After winning the Pangkor state seat in the March 2004 general election, he was state executive councillor for education, human resources and multimedia.
Today, the Sultan of Perak will swear him in as the state's 11th menteri besar at the Istana Iskandariah in the royal town of Kuala Kangsar although Pakatan Rakyat's Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin is clinging on to the post and has refused a royal command to step aside.
While Nizar is an engineer, Zambry graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from International Islamic University Malaysia in 1987 and four years later a master's degree in Islamic thinking from the same university. He was a property developer who is also an active writer and has edited several publications.
Born in Pulau Pangkor on March 22, 1962, Zambry is a father of five — three girls and two boys. In 2005, he was conferred the Royal Malaysian Navy's Honorary Lt-Commander award by Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Jamalullail and became the first politician to be given such an award.-The Malaysia Insider
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