Zahid Arip

Muhammad Zahid bin Mat Arip (born 22 June 1966) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Senator from June 2020 to June 2023 and Political Secretary to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from 2018 to 2020.^[1] He is a member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and formerly Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalitions and was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He also served as Member of the Supreme Council of BERSATU from 2016 to 2020.^[2]

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Mat Arip is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Muhammad Zahid. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.

Zahid Arip
محمد زاهد بن مت عارڤ
Senator
In office 16 June 2020 – 15 June 2023
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Muhyiddin Yassin (2020–2021) Ismail Sabri Yaakob (2021–2022) Anwar Ibrahim (2022–2023)
Political Secretary to the Prime Minister
In office 2018–2020 Serving with Abu Bakar Yahya & Mohamad Nuhairi Rahmat
Monarchs	Muhammad V (2018–2019) Abdullah (2019–2020)
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Member of the Supreme Council of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party
In office 2016–2020
President	Muhyiddin Yassin
Chairman	Mahathir Mohamad
Personal details
Born	Muhammad Zahid bin Mat Arip (1966-06-22) 22 June 1966 (age 58) Malacca, Malaysia
Political party	United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) (–2016) Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) (since 2016)
Other political affiliations	Barisan Nasional (BN) (–2016) Pakatan Harapan (PH) (2017–2020) Perikatan Nasional (PN) (since 2020)

Family

He is the grandson of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Abdul Ghafar Baba. His uncle is Tamrin bin Abdul Ghafar who was once active in the United Malays National Organization and subsequently transferred to the Islamic Party.

Politics

He was a former United Malays National Organization member before joining United Indigenous Party. After joining United Indigenous Party, he was appointed as a Member of the party's Supreme Leadership Council.

In the general elections in 2018, he contested for the Pekan district, but lost to the incumbent, Najib Razak.^[3]

References

1. "Muhammad Zahid dilantik Setiausaha Politik PM". Utusan Malaysia (in Indonesian). 31 May 2018. Archived from the original on 1 June 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2021.
2. "Zahid Md Arip sah tanding lawan Najib di Pekan ★ MRM". www.malaysianreview.com. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018.
3. "Maklumat Calon dan Kawasan Pilihan Raya P85 PEKAN Pahang". Utusan Malaysia (in Indonesian). 28 April 2018. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2021.