Zuraida Kamaruddin


Zuraida binti Kamaruddin is a Malaysian politician who has twice served as the Minister of Housing and Local Government in the Perikatan Nasional administration under Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin since March 2020 and served in the Pakatan Harapan administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 to PH's implosion due to the Sheraton Move in February 2020 for only 1 year, 9 months or, 21 months. She has also been the Member of Parliament for Ampang since March 2008. She has been a member of Malaysian United Indigenous Party, a component party of the ruling PN since February 2020 after her resignation from her previous political party, People's Justice Party with her key political ally, then-Deputy President of the PKR and the then-Minister of Economic Affairs Mohamed Azmin Ali and several MPs aligned with Azmin in the same month.
Zuraida was elected to Parliament in the 2008 Malaysian general election, gaining the seat of Ampang from the then-ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. She was reelected in the 2013 and in the 2018 Malaysian general election.

Non-political career

She started working in the private sector in 1980 at Frank Small & Associates, Australia. She held the position of Qualitative Study Manager before progressing to Chuo Senko Advertising as Marketing Research and Account Planning Manager. In addition, she has worked with American International Assurance, Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising, AVON Berhad and Flaireborne Sdn Bhd.
In 1998, she became a training and motivational consultant to advise organizations such as Petronas, Municipal Council, Oriflame, Nutrimetics, Shinetsu, Texas and marketing, advertising and merchandise research companies.
Other posts include being a member of the Board of Directors of Maahad Tahfiz Az-Zahra, Adviser of ALQAS Education & Charity Home, GEMMA Humanitarian Relief Advisor and Malaysian Student Association in Yemen. She is also a founder and chairwoman of WIRDA having members locally and overseas. WIRDA is a Community Service Center that handles counseling and protection to the needy groups including single mothers, travelers, converts and teens.

Political career

Zuraida won her Ampang seat in the 2008 general election representing PKR, defeating her predecessor Rozaidah Talib with a majority of 3,676 votes. She successfully defended the seat in both the 2013 and 2018 general elections with increased majorities.
She also served as the Women's Chief for PKR before being succeeded by Haniza Talha. She was elected to become vice-president of PKR and concurrently served as Women's Chief for Pakatan Harapan until 24 February 2020
She is also the Chairwoman of the Selangor Women's Institute of IWB. The IWB is a Selangor State Government think tank acting as a policy framework to ensure women's development will take priority in the state.

Expulsion from PKR

On 24 February, PKR general-secretary Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced in a press conference that Minister of Economic Affairs Azmin Ali who also served as Deputy President, and Zuraida had been expelled from the party for their actions on 23 October 2019 which went against the party's stance regarding the position of the Prime Minister. In reaction to Azmin and Zuraida's expulsion, eight MPs from PKR aligned towards Azmin subsequently left the party to form an "independent bloc". On 28 February 2020, Zuraida along with the rest of the "independent bloc" joined Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia, a component party of Pakatan Harapan until pulling out of the coalition on 24 February.

Election results