Juhar Mahiruddin


Juhar bin Haji Mahiruddin is a Malaysian politician who has been the 10th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah since January 2011. He was Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly from December 2002 to December 2010. He was Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat from October 1990 to November 1999. He is also the Chancellor of Universiti Malaysia Sabah. Juhar is a founding member of the United Malays National Organisation's branch in Sabah.

Biography

Juhar was born on Tambisan Island, off the coast of the Sandakan Division in Sabah in 1953 to a political family. His father, Mahiruddin Husin was a member of the United Sabah National Organisation.
He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1977 and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1980. He served as a first-class magistrate from 1981 to 1982 and went into private practice from 1982 to 1985.

Political career

Juhar joined USNO, a Barisan Nasional component party of the time, and campaigned unsuccessfully for office twice, before being elected to Dewan Rakyat for Kinabatangan in October 1990. He was also appointed as the Deputy Speaker upon taking his seat in parliament, and served throughout his term as member of parliament.
USNO had been experiencing a decline since 1976, when it lost the state government to the Sabah People's United Front, which later joined BN. It was disbanded in 1991, and Juhar was involved in negotiations that culminated in the entry of UMNO into Sabah, and the absorption of USNO members into UMNO.
He was not selected to contest the 1999 general election, but remained active in politics. In December 2002, he was appointed as the Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly. He carried on to serve till December 2010, when he was to be appointed the 10th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah by King Mizan Zainal Abidin. He was sworn in on 1 January 2011.
He was sworn in once again for his second term on the first day in 2015.
In 2018, he was again reappointed as the Yang di-Pertua Negeri for the third term.

Election results

Personal life

Juhar is married to Norlidah R. M. Jasni and has four children.

Honour

Honour of Malaysia