He took his oath of office just after 10am today before a full sitting of the upper house of Parliament, with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also present.
Former Pulai MP Nur Jazlan Mohamed of Umno was elected as deputy president after defeating senator Razali Idris of Bersatu by 43 votes to 11, with eight senators absent.
Parliamentary reforms
In a brief speech, Wan Junaidi thanked Anwar for his appointment and promised to continue the agenda of pursuing parliamentary reforms.
“The call of service is more important than what I had planned,” he said, referring to his earlier plans to retire from public service.
Wan Junaidi was a deputy speaker of the Dewan Rakyat from 2008 to 2013, while he was MP for Santubong. He did not seek re-election in the 2022 general election.
He said he intends to pursue reinstating the Parliamentary Services Act, revising the Houses of Parliament (Privileges and Powers) Act, and introducing formal ethical guidelines for members of both the Senate and Dewan Rakyat.
Wan Junaidi and Nur Jazlan had been sworn in as senators earlier. Also taking his oath as senator this morning was former religious affairs minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa, who was appointed to the Senate by the Perak state assembly last month.
Former minister
Wan Junaidi succeeds Rais Yatim, whose term as Senate president ended last Thursday, while Nur Jazlan takes over as deputy president from Ali Mohamad, whose term ended in May.
Wan Junaidi has held three portfolios as a minister from 2015 to 2022: he was law minister from August 2021 to November 2022, and was previously minister for entrepreneur development and cooperatives, minister of natural resources and environment, and deputy home minister.
He served with three prime ministers, from Najib Razak to Muhyiddin Yassin and Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He is a member of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu, the dominant partner in Sarawak’s ruling Gabungan Parti Sarawak coalition.
Nur Jazlan was deputy home minister in the Najib Razak government from 2015 to 2018. He was MP for Pulai for three terms from 2004, and has served as chairman of the public accounts committee, the parliamentary watchdog on government finances.
He is the son of Mohamad Rahmat, a former Umno stalwart who was information minister between 1977 and 1999 under former prime ministers Hussein Onn and Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
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