Hishammuddin Hussein facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Yang Berhormat Dato' Seri Hishammuddin Hussein SPMP SSAP SIMP SPDK DGSM PNBS DPMJ DSAP MP
هشام الدين حسين‎
Hishammuddin in 2018
Treasurer General of the Barisan Nasional
In office 23 October 2019 – 27 April 2023
Chairman	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Preceded by	Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor
Succeeded by	Johari Abdul Ghani
Deputy President of the United Malays National Organisation
Acting 12 May 2018 – 30 June 2018
President	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (acting)
Preceded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (acting)
Succeeded by	Mohamad Hasan
Vice President of the United Malays National Organisation
In office 26 March 2009 – 30 June 2018
President	Najib Razak Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (acting)
Preceded by	Mohd Ali Rustam
Succeeded by	Mohamed Khaled Nordin
12th Youth Chief of the United Malays National Organisation
In office 1999–2009
President	Mahathir Mohamad Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Preceded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Succeeded by	Khairy Jamaluddin
Senior Minister of Security Cluster
In office 30 August 2021 – 24 November 2022
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Preceded by	Himself
Succeeded by	Position abolished
In office 7 July 2021 – 16 August 2021
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Muhyiddin Yassin
Preceded by	Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Succeeded by	Himself
Minister of Defence
In office 30 August 2021 – 24 November 2022
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Preceded by	Ismail Sabri Yaakob
Succeeded by	Mohamad Hasan
In office 16 May 2013 – 10 May 2018
Monarch	Abdul Halim Muhammad V
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Succeeded by	Mohamad Sabu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 10 March 2020 – 16 August 2021
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Muhyiddin Yassin
Preceded by	Saifuddin Abdullah
Succeeded by	Saifuddin Abdullah
Minister with Special Functions
In office 12 April 2017 – 10 May 2018
Monarch	Muhammad V
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Position restored
Succeeded by	Position vacated
Minister of Transport
Acting 16 May 2013 – 24 June 2014
Monarch	Abdul Halim
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Kong Cho Ha
Succeeded by	Liow Tiong Lai
Minister of Home Affairs
In office 10 April 2009 – 20 April 2013
Monarch	Mizan Zainal Abidin Abdul Halim
Prime Minister	Najib Razak
Preceded by	Syed Hamid Albar
Succeeded by	Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
Minister of Education
In office 27 March 2004 – 10 April 2009
Monarch	Sirajuddin Mizan Zainal Abidin
Prime Minister	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Najib Razak
Preceded by	Musa Mohamad
Succeeded by	Muhyiddin Yassin
Minister of Youth and Sports
In office 15 December 1999 – 26 March 2004
Monarch	Salahuddin Sirajuddin
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Preceded by	Muhyiddin Yassin
Succeeded by	Azalina Othman Said
Deputy Minister of Primary Industries
In office 12 November 1996 – 14 December 1999
Monarch	Ja'afar Salahuddin
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Minister	Lim Keng Yaik
Preceded by	Siti Zainaboon Abu Bakar
Succeeded by	Anifah Aman
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Sembrong
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 March 2004
Preceded by	Constituency established
Majority	16,978 (2004) 11,570 (2008) 10,631 (2013) 6,662 (2018) 10,880 (2022)
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Tenggara
In office 25 April 1995 – 21 March 2004
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Adham Baba
Majority	24,518 (1995) 20,817 (1999)
Personal details
Born	Hishammuddin bin Hussein (1961-08-05) 5 August 1961 (age 63) Johor Bahru, Johor, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Political party	United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) Suspended membership on 27 January 2023.
Other political affiliations	Barisan Nasional (BN) Suspended membership on 27 January 2023.
Spouse	Tengku Marsilla Tengku Abdullah ​ (m. 1987)​
Relations	Jaafar Muhammad (great-grandfather) Onn Jaafar (grandfather) Mohamed Noah Omar (grandfather) Onn Hafiz Ghazi (nephew) Abdul Razak Hussein (uncle) Najib Razak (cousin) Yahya Awang (brother-in-law)
Children	4
Parents	Hussein Onn (father) Suhailah Noah (mother)
Residences	Ampang, Kuala Lumpur
Education	Malay College Kuala Kangsar St. John's Institution Cheltenham College
Alma mater	Aberystwyth University (LLB) London School of Economics (LLM)
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Lawyer

Hishammuddin bin Hussein (Jawi: هشام الدين بن حسين; born 5 August 1961) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as Senior Minister of the Security Cluster and Minister of Defence from 2021 to 2022. A member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, he has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Sembrong since 2004, having previously been an MP for Tenggara from 1995 to 2004.

Hishammuddin was born in Johor Bahru to Hussein Onn and Suhailah Noah. His father was the third prime minister of Malaysia. He attended Malay College Kuala Kangsar, St. John's Institution, Alice Smith School, and Cheltenham College. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from Aberystwyth University and a Master of Laws from the London School of Economics before working as a lawyer. After making partner at Skrine, he started his own firm, Lee Hishammuddin, which later merged with Allen and Gledhill to form Lee Hishammuddin Allen and Gledhill.

On his return from the UK, Hishammuddin joined UMNO. He was first elected to the Dewan Rakyat in the 1995 election, winning the seat of Tenggara. He was later appointed deputy minister and was promoted to full minister in 1999. In 1999, he was elected as UMNO's youth chief, and subsequently as its vice president in 2009. Since then, he has held various ministerial positions until the defeat of BN in the 2018 election. Despite the defeat, he managed to retain his Sembrong seat.

At the beginning of the political crisis that started in 2020, Hishammuddin returned to the cabinet as Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition led by Muhyiddin Yassin. Amid the worsening political crisis in July 2021, Muhyiddin appointed Hishammuddin as Senior Minister of Security Cluster to replace Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who was appointed Deputy Prime Minister. He briefly served in the office until August 2021, after Muhyiddin announced his resignation. Two weeks after that, Hishammuddin returned again to the cabinet under the new prime minister Ismail Sabri, who re-appointed him as senior minister. He was also appointed the Minister of Defence, an office he had held previously from 2013 to 2018.

Early life and education

Hishammuddin was born on 5 August 1961, the fourth child and the eldest son of Hussein Onn, who became the third Prime Minister of Malaysia, and Suhaila Noah. He is the grandson of Onn Jaafar, a prominent Malay leader and the founder of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), whose mother was a Circassian and born in the Ottoman Empire.

Hishammuddin attended the Malay College Kuala Kangsar before his father became Deputy Prime Minister in 1973. Upon his father's appointment to the office, he attended St. John's Institution, and then the Alice Smith School, in Kuala Lumpur, before attending the English public school Cheltenham College in Gloucestershire.

Hishammuddin graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, in 1984. He also attended the London School of Economics and received a Master of Laws (LLM) degree in Commercial and Corporate Law in 1988.

Early career

After completing his studies in UK, Hishammuddin returned to Malaysia in 1989. He joined UMNO and began his career as a lawyer. He became a partner of Skrine & Co (present day Skrine), the largest law firm in Malaysia. In 1993, he left Skrine & Co to set up his own law firm with Thomas Mun Lung Lee, and the established law firm was known as Lee Hishammuddin (present day Lee Hishammuddin Allen & Gledhill).

Political career

Hishammuddin rose through the ranks of UMNO's youth wing in the 1990s, becoming its national chief in 1998. He assumed the position at a time when UMNO Youth had been torn apart by the sacking of Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was popular among young UMNO members. Hishammuddin's predecessor, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, had been a core supporter of Anwar.

In 1995, Hishammuddin had been elected to the federal parliament for the Johor-based seat of Tenggara. He was immediately appointed as Parliamentary Secretary for International Trade and Industry in the government of Mahathir Mohamad. His rise to the leadership of UMNO Youth in 1998 coincided with his elevation to the full ministry the following year, as the Minister for Youth and Sport. He retained his parliamentary seat in the 1999 election.

In 2004, the Barisan Nasional government, now led by Abdullah Badawi, was returned to power with Hishammuddin holding the newly created seat of Sembrong. Hishammuddin was re-elected as the leader of UMNO Youth and appointed Minister for Education.

In 2009, the resignation of Abdullah Badawi as prime minister caused a shake-up in UMNO's senior leadership. Najib Razak, Hishammuddin's cousin, became UMNO's president and the prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin became Najib's deputy in both the party and the government, and the three UMNO vice-presidencies were up for election. Hishammuddin, vacating the leadership of UMNO Youth, contested the vice-presidencies, finishing in second place in an eight-man field. His ascension to the party's vice-presidency in turn guaranteed him a senior Cabinet post, and he was appointed Minister for Home Affairs.

After the 2013 election, in which Najib's government suffered further losses, especially among Chinese voters, Hishammuddin recontested the UMNO vice-presidency. He was barely re-elected in third place, finishing nine votes ahead of Mukhriz Mahathir. He switched ministries with Zahid, taking over the latter's portfolio of Defence. He also assumed the transport ministry on an acting basis; that ministry was normally reserved for the Malaysian Chinese Association, which had decided to withdraw from the Cabinet temporarily, having endured significant losses in the general election. As acting transport minister he was thrust into the international spotlight as the minister responsible for the investigation into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The Sydney Morning Herald criticised Hishammuddin in this position, arguing that he had "struggled during daily press briefings to defend his country’s handling of the search and investigation". Najib, however, defended Hishammuddin's performance. His role ceased in June 2014, when Liow Tiong Lai assumed the ministry. Hishammuddin retained his substantive post as defence minister.

In April 2017, Hishammuddin was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Special Functions. Prime Minister Najib Razak said that the appointment would enable Hishammuddin to carry out duties other than his responsibilities as Minister of Defence, he still however would remain as Minister for Defence.

In March 2020, Hishammuddin was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by newly appointed prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin following the collapse of the previous Pakatan Harapan Government in February.

Personal life

In 1986, Hussein married Tengku Marsilla Tengku Abdullah, a princess from the state of Pahang. They reside in Kuala Lumpur, the couple has two sons and two daughters (Kyra Arianna, Faris, Fahd, and Nasha Alyssa).

Health

On 22 February 2022, Hussein tested positive for COVID-19 and he had experienced "very mild" symptoms amid the Omicron infection surge in Malaysia.

Election results

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

•  Johor
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Johor (DPMJ) – Dato' (1996)
•  Malacca
  • Grand Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DGSM) – Datuk Seri (2014)
•  Pahang
  • Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2004)
  • Grand Knight of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (SIMP) – formerly Dato', now Dato' Indera (2002)
  • Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (DSAP) – Dato' (1998)
•  Perlis
  • Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Perlis (SPMP) – Dato' Seri (2007)
•  Sabah
  • Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (SPDK) – Datuk Seri Panglima (2011)
•  Sarawak
  • Knight Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak (PNBS) – Dato Sri (2013)

Foreign honours

•  Bahrain
  • Medal of First Degree – (2017)

See also

• Tenggara (federal constituency)
• Sembrong (federal constituency)