He is the 16th Chief Minister of Sabah sworn in on 29 September 2020 after a coalition of Perikatan Nasional (PN), Barisan Nasional (BN) and United Sabah Party (PBS) called Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) won 38 of 73 seats the 16th state election, in addition to three independent members of the 16th State Legislative Assembly who pledged support to PN.
Hajiji was born in Kampung Serusup, Tuaran as the second of three children of Noor Harun and Teruyah Omar. He attended Serusup Primary School (SK Serusup) in 1961 before attending Tuaran Secondary School – now Badin Secondary School (SMK Badin) – in 1967. After getting 15 agreggates in Lower Certificate of Education examination, he was transferred to St. John's Secondary School in 1972 and excelled in Malaysian Certificate of Education examination as one of the best students in Tuaran. He obtained a degree of Bachelor of Science in Economics from Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) in 1986.
Career
Public service
Hajiji started his career as a public servant in 1976. He was tasked to be a radio announcer at Radio Televisyen Malaysia before being appointed as Assistant Development Officer at Tuaran District Office from 1977 to 1982. He took four-year hiatus to further his study in the SNHU and returned to public service in 1986 as a Customs Officer in Tawau until 1990.
Politics
Hajiji entered politics in 1990 as he contested in the 8th general election as a candidate for Sulaman state constituency representing United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and subsequently won. He was appointed as Political Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Ghafar Baba from 1992 to 1993. He was also member of the Bank Rakyat's board of directors from 1991 to 1994.
He joined United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 1994 following the dissolution of USNO. He became Tuaran Division Chief a year after until 2018 as well as Treasurer of UMNO Sabah from 2001 to 2018. He remained as an Assembly Member for Sulaman for six terms and is currently serving the seventh term after defeating two other candidates from Sabah Heritage Party (Warisan) and Love Sabah Party (PCS) in the recent state election.[2]
He was appointed as Assistant Minister of State at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (for some times in 1994), Ministry of Industrial Development (1994 to 1996, and then 1999 to 2001), Chief Minister's Department (1996 to 1999) and Ministry of Finance (2001 to 2004). He was promoted as Minister of State for Housing and Local Government from 2004 to 2018 and as Deputy Chief Minister in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development for two days post 14th general election.
Following the fall of BN in Sabah[3], he joined Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) in 2018 and serves as the State Chairman for Sabah since 2019.[4] Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin nominated Hajiji as Chief Minister if PN win the next state election.[5] Consequently, GRS, in which PN is a member, won the recent state election and moved to Governor Juhar Mahiruddin to name Hajiji as the next Chief Minister,[6] in which the nomination was affirmed by Juhar the day before Hajiji's swearing-in.[7]
Family
Hajiji is married to Juliah Salag and has four children, namely Mohd. Reza, Khairil Anuar, Nur Diyana and Mohd. Ghazali.
Honour
Hajiji received the following honours:
Honours of Malaysia
Malaysia:
Officer of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (KMN) - (1998)
Sabah:
Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (PGDK) - Datuk (1996)
Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (SPDK) - Datuk Seri Panglima (2013)
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Sempena Pengisytiharan Ketua Menteri Sabah Baru,Penyanyi Bajau Samah Kota Belud Telah mencipta Sebuah Lagu....
