Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia

Malaysia has always had a deputy prime minister for most of the time since independence. A prime minister may choose not to appoint a deputy prime minister. The office of deputy prime minister is not provided for in the constitution of Malaysia. At the same time, a prime minister could appoint more than one deputy prime minister, as has occurred before in Singapore.

From August 1957 to May 2018, when the coalition government Barisan Nasional (BN), of which the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was the main component party, was the only ruling coalition, and by practice, the UMNO deputy president was usually appointed the deputy prime minister by the prime minister, who was the UMNO president. In the organisational structure of BN, the president and deputy president of UMNO were automatically made the chairman and deputy chairman of BN.

From May 2018 to February 2020, when Pakatan Harapan (PH), a political coalition of four parties, was the only ruling coalition, the holder of the position of deputy prime minister was decided upon by the presidential council of PH. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was the first female holder of office, was the post holder. 

The position has vacant for 16 months since Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as prime minister in March 2020 after Perikatan Nasional (PN) was leading ruling coalition until July 2021 after Ismail Sabri Yaakob was appointed to the position. However, he briefly served for 40 days before taking over as prime minister is the shortest-serving officeholder in history.[2]

Since August 2021, when BN is again the leading ruling coalition, there have again been no holders of the office of the deputy prime minister for 13 months before replacing by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof, first duo deputy prime minister in Malaysian history.

Of the thirteen previous officeholders, seven have stepped up to become Prime Ministers. Of the remaining, one died in office, two resigned, two were removed from office (both who later became Prime Ministers) by the sitting Prime Minister, and two disqualified from office due to defeat in the 2018 general election and collapse of the federal administration in 2020 political crisis.

Ismail Abdul Rahman died in office due to massive heart attack in 1973.[3] Musa Hitam resigned from second Mahathir cabinet over differences with Prime Minister over government policy in 1986. Ghafar Baba resigned from his portfolio following UMNO grassroots lost confidence in his leadership and his position as Deputy President of UMNO was challenged by Anwar Ibrahim in the UMNO's top leadership election. Anwar Ibrahim was the first deputy prime minister to be sacked after being accused and subsequently charged with corruption and sodomy in 1998. Muhyiddin Yassin was the second DPM to be removed from office after being dropped from the Cabinet by former Prime Minister Najib Razak in a reshuffle in 2015.[4] He later was sacked from his party.[5] Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was disqualified from office after the seventh Mahathir cabinet was dissolved due to its fall from the federal administration in 2020.

Colour key (for political parties):
  Alliance Party   Barisan Nasional   Pakatan Harapan   Gabungan Parti Sarawak

Portrait		Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Political party		Prime Minister
1		Abdul Razak Hussein عبدالرزاق حسين‎ (1922–1976)	31 August 1957	22 September 1970	13 years, 22 days		Alliance Party (UMNO)	Tunku Abdul Rahman
2		Ismail Abdul Rahman إسماعيل عبدالرحمن‎ (1915–1973) (Died in office)	22 September 1970	2 August 1973	2 years, 314 days			Abdul Razak Hussein
3		Hussein Onn حسين عون‎ (1922–1990)	13 August 1973	15 January 1976	2 years, 155 days
							Barisan Nasional (UMNO)
4		Mahathir Mohamad محاضير محمد‎ (b. 1925)	5 March 1976	16 July 1981	5 years, 133 days			Hussein Onn
5		Musa Hitam موسى هيتم‎ (b. 1934)	18 July 1981	16 March 1986	4 years, 241 days			Mahathir Mohamad
6		Abdul Ghafar Baba عبدالغفار باب‎ (1925–2006)	10 May 1986	15 October 1993	7 years, 158 days
7		Anwar Ibrahim أنور إبراهيم‎ (b. 1947)	1 December 1993	2 September 1998	4 years, 275 days
8		Abdullah Ahmad Badawi عبدﷲ أحمد بدوي‎ (b. 1939)	8 January 1999	31 October 2003	4 years, 296 days
9		Mohd Najib Abdul Razak محمد نجيب عبدالرزاق‎ (b. 1953)	7 January 2004	3 April 2009	5 years, 86 days			Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
10		Muhyiddin Yassin محيي الدين ياسين‎ (b. 1947)	10 April 2009	29 July 2015	6 years, 110 days			Najib Razak
11		Ahmad Zahid Hamidi أحمد زاهد حميدي‎ (b. 1953)	29 July 2015	9 May 2018	2 years, 284 days
12		Wan Azizah Wan Ismail وان عزيزة وان إسماعيل‎ (b. 1952)	21 May 2018	24 February 2020	1 year, 279 days		Pakatan Harapan (PKR)	Mahathir Mohamad
13		Ismail Sabri Yaakob إسماعيل صبري يعقوب‎ (b. 1960)	7 July 2021	16 August 2021	40 days		Barisan Nasional (UMNO)	Muhyiddin Yassin
14		Ahmad Zahid Hamidi أحمد زاهد حميدي‎ (b. 1953)	3 December 2022	Incumbent	58 days			Anwar Ibrahim
		Fadillah Yusof فضيلة يوسف‎ (b. 1962)	3 December 2022	Incumbent			Gabungan Parti Sarawak (PBB)

Timeline

• Senior Minister of Malaysia
• Spouse of the Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
• Official state car
• Air transports of heads of state and government