| Honorific-Prefix: | Yang Berbahagia Datuk Seri Panglima Haji |
| Honorific-Suffix: | SPDK JMN |
| Office1: | Deputy Minister of Transport |
| Primeminister1: | Abdullah Ahmad Badawi |
| Minister1: | Ong Tee Keat |
| Term Start1: | 17 March 2008 |
| Term End1: | 9 April 2009 |
| Monarch1: | Mizan Zainal Abidin |
| Constituency1: | Beaufort |
| Predecessor1: | Tengku Azlan Sultan Abu Bakar Douglas Uggah Embas |
| Successor1: | Abdul Rahim Bakri Robert Lau Hoi Chew |
| Office: | Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government |
| Primeminister: | Najib Razak |
| Term Start: | 9 April 2009 |
| Term End: | 31 July 2012 |
| Constituency: | Beaufort |
| Minister: | Kong Cho Ha (2009–2010) Chor Chee Heung (2010–2012) |
| Predecessor: | Hamzah Zainudin Robert Lau Hoi Chew |
| Office3: | State Leader of the Opposition of Sabah |
| Constituency3: | Klias |
| Term Start3: | 14 June 2013 |
| Term End3: | 2 October 2016 |
| Predecessor3: | Melanie Chia Chui Ket |
| Successor3: | Christina Liew Chin Jin |
| Governor3: | Juhar Mahiruddin |
| 1Blankname3: | Chief Minister |
| 1Namedata3: | Musa Aman |
| Constituency Mp4: | Beaufort |
| Parliament4: | Malaysian |
| Term Start4: | 8 March 2008 |
| Term End4: | 5 May 2013 |
| Majority4: | 10,914 (2008) |
| Predecessor4: | Azizah Mohd Dun (UMNO—BN) |
| Successor4: | Azizah Mohd Dun (UMNO—BN) |
| Assembly5: | Sabah State Legislative |
| Constituency Am5: | Klias |
| Majority5: | 179 (2013) |
| Term Start5: | 5 May 2013 |
| Term End5: | 10 May 2018 |
| Predecessor5: | Azizah Mohd Dun (UMNO—BN) |
| Successor5: | Isnin Aliasnih (UMNO—BN) |
| Term Start6: | 1986 |
| Term End6: | 8 March 2008 |
| Predecessor6: | Azizah Mohd Dun (USNO—BN) |
| Successor6: | Azizah Mohd Dun (UMNO—BN) |
| Birth Date: | 15 June 1956 |
| Birth Place: | Beaufort, North Borneo (now Sabah, Malaysia) |
| Death Place: | Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia |
| Resting Place: | Muslim Cemetery, Kampung Kebatu, Beaufort, Sabah |
| Party: | United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) (until 1975) Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA) (1975–1986) United Sabah Party (PBS) (1986–1994) United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) (1994–2012) People's Justice Party (PKR) (2012–2017) Sabah People's Hope Party (PHRS) (2017–2019) Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) (2019–2021) |
| Occupation: | Politician |
| Spouse: | Normilah Siong |
Datuk Seri Panglima Haji Lajim Ukin (15 June 1956 – 29 August 2021) was a Malaysian politician.
He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Beaufort constituency in Sabah from 2008 to 2013, the Deputy Minister of Transport from 2008 to 2009, and the Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government from 2009 to 2012 in the federal Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.[1] [2]
Lajim previously served as a Deputy Chief Minister as well as a state cabinet minister for five terms from 1986 until 2004. He was also the Leader of the Opposition in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly from 2013 to 2016. Lajim was the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) supreme council member and also served as Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) executive chairman at the time of his death in 2021.
Before entering federal politics, Lajim was a prominent figure in Sabah state politics. He was one of the pioneer founding members of the United Sabah Party (PBS) in 1986 before defecting to the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) eight years later in 1994.[3] [4] He later served as Deputy Chief Minister in the Sabah government.[5]
Lajim was elected to Parliament in the 2008 election, as a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in the seat of Beaufort.[6] [7] He was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister for Transport,[8] moving to the portfolio of Housing and Local Government in 2009.[9] In July 2012, he renounced his official positions in UMNO to align himself with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition. This resulted in the revocation of his appointment as a deputy minister.[2] He recontested his parliamentary seat of Beaufort in the 2013 election on a People's Justice Party (PKR) ticket, but was defeated. While losing his federal seat, he won the election for the Sabah State Legislative Assembly seat of Klias. He became the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly.[10]
On 2 October 2016, Lajim resigned from PKR along with two other Pakatan Harapan (PH) assemblymen.[11] He has stated his intention to form a new Sabah-based party and ally with the former Sabah UMNO leader, Shafie Apdal.[12] He later decided to establish a separate party from Shafie, known as Sabah People's Hope Party (PHRS), which was finally approved by Registrar of Societies (RoS) on 25 October 2016.[13] PHRS was dissolved to let its party members be absorbed into the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) in 2019.[14] After being absorbed, he became BERSATU Sabah elections director before being appointed as one of the BERSATU Supreme Council members for the 2019-2022 triennial party term.
Lajim was married to Normilah Siong until his death in 2021.[15] [16]
In early 2017, Lajim was injured after falling from a train car on the way to attend a wedding reception. He was then referred to a local traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner or "sinseh" and was advised to rest for one week.[17]
In 2021, Lajim was screened and tested positive for COVID-19 at Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu on 1 August before his admission to KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital on 13 August. With a history of chronic illnesses, including a kidney transplant and heart ailment, he was later placed under an induced coma after his health deteriorated on the afternoon of 24 August.[18] On 29 August at 6:23 am Malaysian time, Lajim, aged 65 years old died due to COVID-19 pandemic complications.[19] His remains were then brought to his hometown at Kampung Kebatu, Beaufort, where he was laid to rest in the local Muslim cemetery.[20]
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | P177 Beaufort, Sabah | 14,780 | 79.27% | Lajim Md Yusof (PKR) | 3,866 | 20.73% | 19,327 | 10,914 | 72.22% | |||||
| 2013 | (PKR) | 12,154 | 47.87% | Azizah Mohd Dun (UMNO) | 12,827 | 50.52% | 26,950 | 673 | 86.39% | |||||
| Guan Dee Koh Hoi (STAR) | 409 | 1.61% | ||||||||||||
| 2018 | (PHRS) | 8,023 | 29.48% | Azizah Mohd Dun (UMNO) | 11,354 | 41.72% | 28,011 | 3,331 | 84.44% | |||||
| Johan Ghani (PKR) | 7,835 | 28.79% | ||||||||||||
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | N36 Klias | Lajim Ukin (PBS) | 2,749 | 49.09% | Azizah Mohd Dun (USNO) | 2,652 | 47.36% | 5,670 | 97 | 74.55% | |||
| Empih Godfrey Eigur (BERJAYA) | 199 | 3.55% | |||||||||||
| 1990 | Lajim Ukin (PBS) | 3,679 | 52.36% | Azizah Mohd Dun (USNO) | 2,888 | 41.11% | 7,102 | 791 | 78.49% | ||||
| Loi Siang Tong (BERJAYA) | 348 | 4.95% | |||||||||||
| Duin Banang (AKAR) | 111 | 1.58% | |||||||||||
| 1994 | N36 Klias | Lajim Ukin (PBS) | 4,881 | 49.09% | Anifah Aman (UMNO) | 4,476 | 47.36% | 9,468 | 405 | 78.68% | |||
| 1999 | N22 Klias | 7,209 | 63.89% | Ab Rahman Md Yakub (PBS) | 3,434 | 30.44% | 11,402 | 3,775 | 75.65% | ||||
| Saidi Musi (AKAR) | 640 | 5.67% | |||||||||||
| 2004 | N25 Klias | None | None | ||||||||||
| 2013 | Lajim Ukin (PKR) | 6,324 | 49.71% | Isnin Aliasnih (UMNO) | 6,145 | 48.30% | 13,064 | 179 | 85.30% | ||||
| Mohd Sanusi Taripin (SAPP) | 182 | 1.43% | |||||||||||
| Aliapa Osman (STAR) | 71 | 0.56% | |||||||||||
| 2018 | Lajim Ukin (PHRS) | 3,837 | 27.94% | Isnin Aliasnih (UMNO) | 6,173 | 44.94% | 14,187 | 2,336 | 83.70% | ||||
| Johair Mat Lani (WARISAN) | 3,725 | 27.12% | |||||||||||