| Abdul Latiff Ahmad | |
| Native Name Lang: | ms-ar |
| Birth Date: | 9 July 1958 |
| Birth Place: | Ayer Hitam, Kluang, Johor, Federation of Malaya |
| Term Start: | 30 August 2021 |
| Term End: | 24 November 2022 |
| Primeminister: | Ismail Sabri Yaakob |
| Deputy: | Mastura Mohd Yazid |
| Constituency: | Mersing |
| Predecessor: | Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof |
| Office1: | Minister of Rural Development |
| Term Start1: | 10 March 2020 |
| Term End1: | 16 August 2021 |
| Monarch1: | Abdullah |
| Primeminister1: | Muhyiddin Yassin |
| Predecessor1: | Rina Harun |
| Successor1: | Mahdzir Khalid |
| Constituency1: | Mersing |
| Office2: | Deputy Minister of Defence |
| Term Start2: | 10 April 2009 |
| Term End2: | 15 May 2013 |
| Minister2: | Ahmad Zahid Hamidi |
| Primeminister2: | Najib Razak |
| Predecessor2: | Abu Seman Yusop |
| Successor2: | Abdul Rahim Bakri |
| Constituency2: | Mersing |
| Office3: | Deputy Minister of Health |
| Term End3: | 9 April 2009 |
| Term Start3: | 27 March 2004 |
| Primeminister3: | Abdullah Ahmad Badawi |
| Predecessor3: | Abu Seman Yusop |
| Successor3: | Rosnah Abdul Rashid Shirlin |
| Constituency3: | Mersing |
| Office4: | Deputy Minister of Human Resources |
| Term End4: | 26 March 2004 |
| Term Start4: | 15 December 1999 |
| Minister4: | Fong Chan Onn |
| Predecessor4: | Affifudin Omar |
| Successor4: | Abdul Rahman Bakar |
| Constituency4: | Mersing |
| Constituency Mp6: | Mersing |
| Parliament6: | Malaysian |
| Term Start6: | 29 November 1999 |
| Term End6: | 19 November 2022 |
| Successor6: | Muhammad Islahuddin Abas (PN-BERSATU) |
| Term Start5: | 11 June 2013 |
| Term End5: | 30 January 2019 |
| 1Blankname5: | CEO |
| 1Namedata5: | Ahmad Azizi Ali |
| Predecessor5: | Idris Haron |
| Successor5: | Mohammad Mentek |
| Office9: | Faction represented in Dewan Rakyat |
| Subterm9: | 1999–2018 |
| Suboffice9: | Barisan Nasional |
| Subterm10: | 2018–2019 |
| Suboffice10: | Independent |
| Subterm11: | 2019–2020 |
| Suboffice11: | Pakatan Harapan |
| Subterm12: | 2020 |
| Suboffice12: | Malaysian United Indigenous Party |
| Subterm13: | 2020–2022 |
| Suboffice13: | Perikatan Nasional |
| Office14: | Faction represented in Johor State Legislative Assembly |
| Subterm14: | 1995–1999 |
| Suboffice14: | Barisan Nasional |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Alma Mater: | University of Malaya |
Abdul Latiff bin Ahmad (Jawi: عبداللطيف بن أحمد ; born 9 July 1958) is a Malaysian politician who served as Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Special Functions from 2021 to 2022. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mersing from 1999 to 2022.
Abdul Latiff previously served as Minister of Rural Development from 2020 to 2021. He held various posts such as Deputy Minister of Defence, Deputy Minister of Health, and Deputy Minister of Human Resources.[1] [2] [3]
Abdul Latiff was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.[4] He left UMNO in 2018, and joined the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) the following year. BERSATU is a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
Abd Latiff was firstly elected to the Johor State Legislative Assembly for Endau seat in 1995 election. In the 1999 general election he switched to federal politics by contesting and winning to be the MP of Mersing constituency in Johor, and thereafter served as Deputy Minister of Human Resources (1999 to 2004), Deputy Minister of Health (2004 to 2008) and Deputy Minister of Defence (2008 to 2013). He was reelected MP for the Mersing parliamentary seat in the consecutive 2004, 2008, 2013 and 2018 general elections.
Abd Latiff was dropped from Najib Razak's cabinet after the 2013 general election, and was appointed the chairman of the government-linked housing development company Syarikat Perumahan Negara Berhad (SPNB).[5] He left SPNB in early 2019 after BN lost as the ruling federal government to Pakatan Harapan (PH) in the 2018 election.[6] [7]
On 8 July 2020, he said UMNO was an unscrupulous party in Sabah after its leaders jumped to Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu). Earlier, a video featuring Abdul Latiff's statement in an open forum on the matter was spread on social media where he mentioned "Sabahans do not mention jumping but call migration and usually from Berjaya to PBS, PBS goes to UMNO. Meanwhile, Abdul Latiff's statement met with opposition from UMNO leaders who are now urging him to resign.[8] [9] After receiving word of mouth from UMNO leaders, finally he admitted his mistake. While reminding UMNO, the real enemy is the opponents and they should not quarrel with each other, he said he apologized if the statement regarding "UMNO does not work in Sabah" was misunderstood and hurt the hearts of many parties.[10]
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | N09 Endau | (UMNO) | 7,315 | 69% | Sheikh Abdullah Said Salleh (PAS) | 3,302 | 31% | 10,668 | 4,013 | 64.36% | |||||
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | P129 Mersing, Johor | (UMNO) | 18,821 | 70.28% | Idris Tukachil (PAS) | 7,960 | 29.72% | 27,617 | 10,861 | 70.29% | ||||
| 2004 | P154 Mersing, Johor | Abdul Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 19,222 | 80.52% | Idris Tukachil (PAS) | 4,649 | 19.48% | 24,484 | 14,573 | 72.25% | ||||
| 2008 | Abdul Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 20,116 | 75.92% | Shahar Abdullah (PAS) | 6,380 | 24.08% | 27,548 | 13,736 | 75.59% | |||||
| 2013 | Abdul Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 26,184 | 71.50% | Roslan Nikmat (PAS) | 10,437 | 28.50% | 37,393 | 15,747 | 84.03% | |||||
| 2018 | Abdul Latiff Ahmad (UMNO) | 19,806 | 53.00% | Md Nasir Hashim (PPBM) | 11,347 | 30.37% | 38,306 | 8,459 | 79.51% | |||||
| A. Rahman A. Hamid (PAS) | 6,215 | 16.63% | ||||||||||||