Khalid Abdul Samad


Khalid bin Abdul Samad is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister for Federal Territories from 2018 to 2020. He is a member of the Parti Amanah Negara, a component party of the Pakatan Harapan coalition. He is the Member of Parliament for Shah Alam, Selangor.
He was a columnist at The Malaysian Insider and a prominent member of the moderate wing of Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party before they split to set up the new Amanah party.
He is the younger brother of Shahrir Abdul Samad; the United Malays National Organisation of Barisan Nasional former Member of Parliament for Johor Bahru, Johor and former Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

Early life

Khalid was born in Kota Bharu, Kelantan in 1957.
He graduated with a degree in Fuel and Energy Engineering from Leeds University in 1979 and then worked for Petronas.

Political career

Khalid joined PAS in 1983 and became a central committee member from 1987 to 1993.
In 1987, he was detained for nine months under the Internal Security Act during Operation Lalang crackdown.
He had unsuccessfully contested as PAS candidate the parliamentary seats of Kuala Krai, Arau, Sri Gading and Shah Alam in the general elections before finally won the Shah Alam seat in the 2008 general election and retained it in the 2013 general election.
In 2010, Khalid became engaged in a debate with fellow opposition Member of Parliament Zulkifli Nordin over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims. After Khalid stated that he opposed a Selangor law that prohibited non-Muslims from using the word "Allah", Zulkifli lodged a police report accusing Khalid of sedition. Zulkifi, a Kedah MP, moved to Selangor to run in the Shah Alam seat against Khalid in the 2013 election as a Barisan Nasional candidate, but was beaten by Khalid who was re-elected with an increased margin.
In August 2014, Khalid was charged under Section 4 of the Sedition Act for allegedly questioning the executive powers of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department in relation to the confiscation of Malay-language and Iban-language bibles. Khalid was among several other opposition politicians as well as non-politicians arrested in the 2014 Malaysian sedition dragnet.
Khalid again managed to retain the Shah Alam seat in the 2018 general election but the first time for the Amanah party and was soon selected as the new PH coalition federal government cabinet minister.

Election results