Mohamed Zahir Ismail

Mohamed Zahir bin Ismail (19 March 1924 – 14 October 2004) was a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, the lower chamber of the Malaysian Parliament from June 1982 to his death in October 2004. He was the longest-serving officeholder by serving for 22 years, 4 months. He was also the first Chancellor of the International Medical University from 1999 to 2004.


Mohamed Zahir Ismail

Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat
In office
14 June 1982  14 October 2004
Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad
(1982–2003)
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
(2003–2004)
Preceded bySyed Nasir Ismail
Succeeded byRamli Ngah Talib
Personal details
Born(1924-03-19)19 March 1924
Alor Setar, Kedah
Died14 October 2004(2004-10-14) (aged 80)
Kuala Lumpur
Political partyUMNO – BN
Spouse(s)Halimatun Sa'adiah Chik
ProfessionAdvocate, solicitor

Early life and education

Mohamed Zahir was born in Alor Setar, Kedah. He attended Sekolah Kebangsaan Hosba in Jitra and later Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid, Alor Setar. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws from Lincoln's Inn in 1955.

Career

Mohamed Zahir began practising as a lawyer from 1956. After the independence of Malaya, he served on the Kedah State EXCO from 1959 to 1963, and briefly as Menteri Besar in 1963. He was appointed to the Dewan Negara (the upper house) in August 1963, and completed two terms (of three years each) as a Senator.

He was actively involved in the formation of the Malaysia, serving as a diplomat to the United Nations and as the Malayan representative to the Cobbold Commission. In 1975, he was appointed to the Kota Bharu High Court as a judge.

Now a respected figure in Malaysian politics, he was elected Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat following the 1982 general elections, a post he held for 24 years. During his tenure, he also became President of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, Asia Pacific Parliamentary Forum and the ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Assembly.

Death

In October 2004, Mohamed Zahir died in office due to acute renal failure in Kuala Lumpur Hospital.[1]

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

gollark: And apparently may have *some* effect in reducing how likely you are to get it.
gollark: Also, the "disaster is inevitable" thing seems... wrong. I think if stuff is handled correctly humanity can weather the problems we currently are and are going to experience and, er, do well. Problem is that there are lots of ways to do things very wrong.
gollark: *Probably* still better than before cities and stuff. Diseases spread anyway then, but less so, and we can actually treat them and have hygiene and sanitation now.
gollark: Still, I think on the whole we're better off disease-wise than the people of, say, 400 years ago.
gollark: Hmm, I suppose so on the population densities one.

References

Others

Political offices
Preceded by
Syed Nasir Ismail
Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat
1982–2004
Succeeded by
Ramli Ngah Talib
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