Najib Razak (1953-…) was prime minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. He took over the post following the resignation of Prime Minister Abdullah bin Ahmad Badawi. Najib is a member of Malaysia’s most powerful political party, the United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
Najib was born on July 23, 1953, in Kuala Lipis, in the state of Pahang. His father, Abdul Razak bin Hussein, was an important Malaysian politician. Najib earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial economics from Nottingham University in the United Kingdom. Abdul became prime minister of Malaysia in 1970. After Abdul died in 1976, Najib was elected to fill his seat in Malaysia’s Parliament. Najib served in a number of government positions, including deputy minister of energy, telecommunications, and posts; deputy minister of education; deputy minister of finance; minister of culture, youth, and sports; minister of defense; and minister of education.
In 2004, Najib was appointed deputy prime minister under Prime Minister Abdullah, also a member of UMNO. In 2008, UMNO lost its two-thirds majority in Parliament for the first time since Malaysia gained independence in 1957. Abdullah faced criticism for failing to deliver on campaign promises to end government corruption and ease long-standing ethnic tensions. He stepped down in April 2009, and Najib succeeded him. As prime minister, Najib introduced economic and social reforms. He sought to attract foreign investment and ease tensions between ethnic Malays and ethnic Chinese. In 2018, Najib lost the election for prime minister to Mahathir bin Mohamad.
In 2020, a Malaysian court convicted Najib of breach of trust, money laundering, and abuse of power. The charges involved money stolen from a government-owned investment fund while Najib was prime minister. Najib claimed the charges were politically motivated, but lost an appeal of the verdict in 2022. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. In 2024, his sentence was reduced to 6 years.
