WHILE the current parliament has the most number of first-time MPs, it is no surprise that Umno, as the country’s oldest political party, has the longest-serving lawmakers.

The Malay nationalist party averages 3.43 terms per MP, while its rival, PAS, which was formed in 1951, has the shortest serving average at 1.64 term per MP.

The exception in PAS is its president and now Malaysia’s special envoy to the Middle East, Abdul Hadi Awang, who is serving his sixth term in Marang.

The Islamist party also has one three-term MP, Rantau Panjang lawmaker Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff , who is deputy minister of women, family and community development.

Those who have served just one term shorter than her are two-term MPs Takiyuddin Hassan (Kota Baru), Ahmad Marzuk Shaary (Pengkalan Chepa), Nik Mohamed Abduh Nik Aziz (Bachok) and Wan Hassan Mohd Ramli (Dungun).

The remaining 11 PAS MPs are all in their first term.

In Umno, heading its list of longest-serving MPs is 85-year-old Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah who has represented Gua Musang since 1974 for 11 terms or 48 years.

Tengku Razaleigh is followed by former prime minister Najib Razak who is now in his ninth term in Pekan.

The 68-year-old first came into the seat in 1976 after his father and second prime minister Abdul Razak Hussein died while in office.

Najib has now served in the seat for 46 years.

After Najib are three six-term MPs – Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Bagan Datuk), Noh Omar (Tg Karang) and Hishammuddin Hussein (Sembrong).

Why Umno MPs last so long

According to International Islamic University of Malaysia’s Dr Lau Zhe Wei, Umno’s record is not surprising.

“One of the reasons is once an Umno leader reaches a certain level of leadership, they will hardly step down as MP.

“For other parties, the MP position is not the be all or end all of their political careers.

“But in Umno, you are almost like a nobody if you are not an MP.

“Furthermore, most of the Umno MPs are division chiefs and it’s not easy to replace them at the division levels,” said the political science lecturer.

After Umno, the other parties with the longest-serving MPs are Sarawak’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), DAP and Amanah.

The average term per MP for the three parties are 2.61, 2.54 and 2.45.

Leading the pack for PBB is law and parliament minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. The 76-year-old former Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker is now in his seventh term.

In DAP, the longest-serving is veteran Lim Kit Siang (Iskandar Puteri) who is now in his 11th term. The former DAP secretary-general is only one of two of the current MPs that has won elections in the 1960s.

The Johor-born politician first came into Dewan Rakyat after winning the Bandar Melaka seat in 1969.

The other politician to have won in the 1960s is 96-year-old Dr Mahathir Mohamad (Langkawi). The two-time former prime minister made his debut in Kota Setar in 1964.

PKR and Bersatu

Younger parties such as PKR and Bersatu have the shortest-serving MPs at 1.88 and 2.25 terms, respectively.

According to Lau, this is to be expected of PKR as the party was only formed in 1999 and became a force to be reckoned with after the 2008 elections.

“Prior to that, PKR only had five and one MP in the 1999 and 2004 elections. They only came up in 2008 with 31 and the 30 and 48 in the 2013 and 2018 elections.

“PKR also has a habit of picking candidates due to their popularity at that time. Take Loh Gwo Burne (Kelana Jaya 2008) for instance. He came in after his video about judicial appointment manipulation but only served one term as politics is not his forte.

“Bersatu, however, is an anomaly,” said Lau.

He said that although Bersatu was only formed in 2016 and has only contested in one general election, the average term per MP is higher than PKR because it has absorbed many former PKR and Umno MPs.

“After Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin (8 terms) the longest-serving MP are Abdul Latiff Ahmad (Mersing), Mustapa Mohamed (Jeli), Ronald Kiandee (Beluran) and Kamarudin Jaafar (Bandar Tun Razak) each of whom are in their fifth term.

“But all except for Kamarudin (ex-PKR) are former Umno MPs,” said Lau. “As such,  Bersatu’s average is higher than others.”

In contrast, Lau said PAS’ average is lower due the exodus of veteran MPs such as Mohamed Sabu (Kota Rajay) and Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena), who both have four terms.

In 2015, Mohamed left PAS to form Amanah after PAS fell out with Pakatan Rakyat. – June 18, 2022.