Najib Razak

Najib Razak is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from April 2009 to May 2018. Before assuming the office of the prime minister he had served in a number of cabinet ministries, including two terms as the minister of defence. Currently, he is also the President of the United Malays National Organization, the leading party in Malaysia's Barisan Nasional coalition. Razak’s illustrious political career is not surprising given that he was born into a family of high-profile politicians; both his father and uncle had also served as the Prime Minister of Malaysia. It was the untimely demise of his father that pushed the young Razak into politics when he was just 22 years old. Within weeks of his father’s death he was elected to fill the Pekan vacancy left by his father, thereby becoming the youngest person ever elected as a Member of Parliament in Malaysia. That was just the beginning and over the next few decades he rose to assume the same position his father had once held. As the prime minister, he implemented several progressive reforms to facilitate economic liberalization of the country and to set the pace for Malaysia to become a modern, progressive, and forward-looking democracy. He also launched the 1Malaysia campaign calling for more harmony, national unity, and better governance in the nation. While his tenure as the PM saw rapid economic growth, it was also marred by financial scandals. In the wake of one such scandal, Razak was forced to resign in 2018.