He grew up in the city of Petaling Jaya. He received his education at La Salle Petaling Jaya before being admitted into the Malay College Kuala Kangsar. After graduating from MCKK he underwent a preparatory program at Kolej Yayasan UEM where he was the Student Council President under Permodalan Nasional Berhad scholarship. Upon completion of his A-levels in KYUEM he was admitted into King's College London to read law. In the United Kingdom, he became active in his college's Labour Student Society and the Federation of Students Islamic Societies. Among the Malaysian students in the UK he was also secretary of the Malaysian Law Students Union, vice-chairman of the United Kingdom and Eire Council for Malaysian Students and volunteered with Projek Kalsom. Upon his return to Malaysia, he served his bond with PNB for almost a year before resigning to concentrate on his political career. He repaid PNB for the scholarship. His father, a big fan of Nik Nazmi, re-mortgaged his house in Petaling Jaya in order to repay the scholarship. He has columns in the Edge, Sinar Harian, Oriental Daily News and The Malaysian Insider. In 2009 Marshall Cavendish published his book Moving Forward: Malays for the 21st Century. It was also published in Malay as Mendepani Zaman: Melayu untuk Abad ke-21. In 2011, he published Coming of Age: A Decade of Essays 2001–2011. He has also spoken at various institutions including the Australian National University; Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; Cambridge University; the School of Oriental and African Studies; Oxford University; Warwick University; the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore; the International Islamic University Malaysia; the University of Malaya; Universiti Selangor; Nanyang Siang Pau and the Asian Strategic Leadership Institute. He started his website when in 1997 and a blog in 2001. He also founded SuaraAnum.com, a now-defunct web magazine for young Malaysians.
Political career
After serving as an assistant to Anwar Ibrahim, he was nominated by Parti Keadilan Rakyat to contest the Seri Setia state seat in Selangor for the 2008 Malaysian general election. On polling day, Nik Nazmi won by a majority of 2,863 votes, defeating the incumbent Seripah Noli Syed Hussin who had won an 11,141 vote majority in the previous election. Nik Nazmi was the youngest candidate to contest a seat in the 2008 election. He was the political secretary to the Menteri Besar of SelangorAbdul Khalid Ibrahim from March 2008 to June 2010. Nik Nazmi was appointed as Communications Director of PKR in August 2010. In the 2013 Malaysian general election Nik Nazmi defended his Seri Setia state seat. He defeated Abdul Halim Samad of Barisan Nasional with a majority of 4,663 votes. He was then elected as Deputy Speaker of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly. During this time he inaugurated the Selangor Youth ADUN Program that allowed students the experience of being legislators in the State Assembly. Nik Nazmi is the first person to be charged under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 for failing to give police a 10 days' notice before holding the post-election Kelana Jaya Blackout 505 rally. If convicted under section 9 of the same Act, Nik Nazmi could be fined up to RM10,000, which could see the Seri Setia state assemblyman losing his seat. The rally is to protest against the election results and demand a free and fair election. In a landmark judgment in April 2014 following Nik Nazmi's challenge on the constitutionality of the Act, the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that it is unconstitutional to criminalise fundamental freedoms and acquitted Nik Nazmi. In the PKR party elections in 2014, he was elected as the Leader of the Youth Wing. Nazmi was appointed as the State Executive Councillor in charge of Education, Human Capital Development, Science, Technology and Innovation in 2014. On 9 May 2018, Nik Nazmi moved to Contest the Setiawangsa Parliamentary Constituency and subsequently won the seat with a 14,372 majority. On December 13, 2018, Nik Nazmi was replaced by Muar MP and Youth Minister Syed Saddiq as New Pakatan Harapan Youth Chief.
The Mentari project
The Mentari project is the brainchild of Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad. It is supposed to promote an alternative learning activity for underprivileged children living in the low-cost housing area of Desa Mentari, Petaling Jaya. Desa Mentari was chosen as a benchmark location as the children there have to endure extreme social problems, financial constraints to basic security issues and even serious family problems. The Mentari Project is active in fund raising programs.
