Mohamad Ariff Was A Judge And Politician Before Becoming Dewan Rakyat Speaker
Subscribe to our new Telegram channel for the latest updates on COVID-19 and other issues.
Tan Sri Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof has been the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat since July 2018. Formerly a politician, he resigned from AMANAH after being appointed.
Born in Sungai Petani, Kedah, in 1949, Mohamad Ariff attended Royal Military College in Sungai Besi and later graduated from the London School of Economics (LSE) with a Masters in Law.
He started his career in law by joining the Faculty of Law in University Malaya. Then in 1986, Mohamad Ariff became a solicitor at his own legal practice, Cheang & Ariff.
Later, Mohamad Ariff joined the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) as the first Market supervision Department Director in 1993. He then spent the next several years as Director of Kuala Lumpur Options and Super Exchange (KLOSE), a member of the Company’s Commission of Malaysia advisory board, and a member of the Rating Review Committee and Malaysian Rating Agency.
In 2008, Mohamad Ariff was appointed as Judicial Commissioner for the High Court of Malaya and was made a full judge within a year. In 2012, he was elevated to Court of Appeal but retired from the Malaysian Judiciary in 2015 to return to Cheang & Ariff.
During his time as a High Court judge, Mohamad Ariff removed the Home Ministry’s ban on a book by Sisters in Islam (SIS) titled “Muslim Women and the Challenges of Islamic Extremism”. Meanwhile, as a Court of Appeal judge, Mohamad Ariff led a panel of judges in the Teoh Beng Hock case.
Meanwhile, in politics, Mohamad Ariff was made a candidate of PAS for Kota Damansara, Selangor in 2004 General Election. He failed to win the position and then joined AMANAH in 2015.
Despite his successful career, Mohamad Ariff hasn’t been much of a controversial figure. His biggest scandal was when his son, Lutfi, began working as Lim Guan Eng’s press secretary.
The issue was brought up in Parliament, during which Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob claimed it was a potential conflict of interest. Mohamad Ariff confirmed the news but assured the MPs that his son’s employment with Guan Eng had nothing to do with his judgment in the House.
Find out more about Mohamad Ariff’s experience during his time as Dewan Rakyat Speaker in this interview by the New Straits Times.
If you want to know more about Mohamad Ariff’s replacement as Dewan Rakyat Speaker, check out our other articles on this topic.
For more updates on Covid-19, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
