Anifah Aman


Anifah bin Haji Aman is a Malaysian politician who had served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia from April 2009 to May 2018. Anifah is also the former Member of Parliament for Beaufort and Kimanis in Sabah. He was a former member of the United Malays National Organisation which is part of the Barisan Nasional coalition, until he quit to be an Independent politician in 2018.

Personal life

Anifah is married to Siti Rubiah Abdul Samad and has 3 sons. His second wife is Sophia Mohd Noor and has a daughter. He is the younger half brother of former Chief Minister of Sabah, Musa Aman. His nephew, Yamani Hafez Musa who is Musa's son; is the MP for Sipitang.

Political career

Anifah was first elected to Parliament in 1999 general election, winning the seat of Beaufort. He was immediately appointed Deputy Minister of Primary Industries in the government of Mahathir Mohamad. He shifted to, and won, the seat of Kimanis in the 2004 general election, and became Deputy Minister for Plantation Industries and Commodities. After winning re-election in the 2008 general election, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi appointed him as Deputy Transport Minister. However, Anifah refused, saying he felt it was "time to make way" for someone else. Reports indicated this was the first time anyone had refused an appointment as Deputy Minister after the appointment had already been made public. A day later, the New Straits Times reported that Anifah and another proposed Deputy Minister, Tengku Azlan Abu Bakar, had "thrown a tantrum... claiming they are 'senior enough' to be made full ministers". Abdullah reportedly told them that he had "picked the best people", leading to their resignations.
After Najib Razak replaced Abdullah as Prime Minister in 2009, Anifah was promoted from the backbench to the Cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs. During Anifah's tenure as Foreign Minister, Malaysia won election as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2015–2016 term.
Amid retaining his Kimanis seat for the fourth consecutive term in the 2018 general election which saw the downfall of BN's federal and state governments, Anifah announced his resignation from UMNO to be an independent MP in September 2018. On 16 August 2019, the Malaysian Election Court however has voided his win in the GE14 after the court found serious discrepancies in the conduct of the election process by the Election Commission. He decided not to contest the 2020 Kimanis by-election called to focus on the subsequent 15th General Election instead.

Election results

Honours