PAHANG Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail was once again given the mandate to helm the Pahang government when he was named as menteri besar for a second term.

The appointment of Wan Rosdy, 64, follows the consent granted by Pahang Regent Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah.

Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim had also consented to the formation of a BN-Pakatan Harapan state government after no party obtained a simple majority in the 15th general election.

The presentation of the appointment letter and swearing in was held today at Balairung Seri, Istana Abu Bakar in Pekan.

On November 19, BN won 16 seats in the Pahang assembly, one fewer than Perikatan Nasional (PN), while PH won eight seats.

Polling for the Tioman state seat was postponed due to the death of PN candidate Md Yunus Ramli, 61, at 3.30am on November 19, believed to be due to a heart attack. However, the election result will not have a major impact on the majority of any party.

In the general election, Wan Rosdy successfully defended the Jelai state seat for a fifth term with a majority of 6,983 votes.

Born on October 1, 1958, in Kampung Tanjung Gahai, Kuala Lipis, he received his early education at Sekolah Rendah Clifford and Sekolah Menengah Clifford, both in Kuala Lipis before moving to Sekolah Menengah Mahmud in Raub.

He then furthered his studies with a Diploma of Trade Studies at Mara Institute of Technology (ITM) before continuing his studies to the Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science majoring in Political Science from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).

Wan Rosdy started his career as assistant chief officer of the National Padi and Rice Board in Perak with the last position as senior manager (Central Region), Padiberas Nasional Bhd in 2003, before he joined politics.

Wan Rosdy contested an election for the first time in 2004, and was appointed as the 15th Pahang menteri besar on May 15, 2018 to replace Adnan Yaakob.

Before that, Wan Rosdy was also a member of the state executive council from 2008 to 2018, holding the posts of state housing and township committee chairman as well as the state rural development and Orang Asli affairs committee chairman.

Among the achievements of Wan Rosdy’s administration in his first term was successfully increasing state revenue collection above RM1 billion for the first time, besides attracting investment of RM20.56 billion and reducing debts from RM3.31 billion to RM952.21 million.

Wan Rosdy is married to Burhah Mohammed and they have three children. – Bernama, November 28, 2022.