Who is Azmin Ali? The story of Mahathir’s adopted son, turned Anwar loyalist, and now threat
Cilisos
In case you weren’t paying attention, things have been heated in opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan recently after PKR Selangor Menteri Besar, Azmin Ali, called Amanah’s Selangor chief, Izham Hashim, a liar.
This tussle is the latest in a series of drama involving Azmin Ali this year (srsly, it’s only February) and it’s important because it could decide what Pakatan’s strategy for Selangor will be. And because Selangor is the richest and most populous state in Malaysia, it’s pretty much the golden snitch that both BN and PH are hoping to catch in GE14.
Must… score… urbanites… Image from Harry Potter.
Just to give you a lowdown on all the drama that’s been happening with Azmin Ali before the feud between him and the Amanah chief started:
- In December, his own brother TV host and celebrity Azwan Ali pledged that he would help UMNO topple him as Selangor MB in the next GE.
- Last month, Selangor PKR led by him refused to endorse Dr Mahathir after they announced Dr Mahathir as Pakatan’s PM candidate, even though Azmin would later do so.
- Also last month, suspicions were raised that Azmin is still negotiating with PAS behind Pakatan’s back, even though PAS left the opposition coalition and Pakatan announced it would not be negotiating with them anymore.
To help you learn everything you need to know about him, we decided to look into Azmin Ali’s history starting from the very beginning. This was when we found out that…
… Azmin Ali was actually born in Singapore!
According to his website, Azmin was born in Singapore in 1964 as the fourth child of six siblings. His father, Haji Ali Omar, was part of the British army before serving in the Malaysian army, and four years after Azmin was born, he moved his family to Hulu Kelang, Gombak (where Azmin is currently the elected rep for). In KL, Azmin attended Gurney Road School during his primary school years and then later Setapak High School for his secondary years.
In the 80s, he left for the US to study at the University of Minnesota, graduating with a degree in Math and Economics before continuing at the university with his Masters in Education. We tried to look up records of him during his time there and found him mentioned in a 1983 report about foreign students.
Wahhh… University of Minnesota even got surau in the 80s. Image from the University of Minnesota.
With a bachelor and masters degree under his belt, he moved back to Malaysia and immediately terjun-ed into politics. But how he got his start came as a bit of a surprise to us when we found out.
Azmin actually started politics as Mahathir’s anak angkat
Seriously, how many of you knew that? Image from TV14.
It’s pretty accurate to call Azmin a career politician, because his first job EVER was at the age of 23 when he became Anwar Ibrahim’s Special Officer while Anwar was the Minister of Education. As a matter of fact, he was actually handpicked for the job by none other than… Dr Mahathir.
According to Azmin, he and Dr Mahathir met while he was still a university student and the Prime Minister would visit the US on official state business. During summers, he organized forums for Mahathir to speak to students, with one dialogue in particular having almost two thousand attendees. Basically, you could say that Azmin Ali was the Syed Saddiq of the 80s.
