Mohd Shafie Apdal, Semporna boy makes good





KOTA KINABALU, May 12 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal was born on Oct 20, 1957, in Kampung Bubul, Semporna, Sabah.

Mohd Shafie, who is of Bajau descent, obtained his Diploma in Shipping Management from the London Business College and his Bachelor in Economics (Hons) from Staffordshire University (formerly North Staffordshire Polytechnic), England.

After graduating from England, Mohd Shafie returned to Malaysia and started his career in public service as an economics officer at the Sabah Ministry of Finance in 1982 before moving on to the Sabah Chief Minister's Department to assume his new position as senior administrative officer.

Shafie then moved to Sabah Industrial and Rural Development Ministry in 1987 to assume position as senior assistant secretary in the ministry and subsequently as political secretary to Tan Sri Sakaran Dandai (now Tun) who was then Land and Cooperative Development Minister.

Between May 15, 1995 and May 24, 1999, Mohd Shafie was appointed as Information Ministry's parliamentary secretary.

In 1995, Mohd Shafie was elected Member of Parliament for Semporna and appointed as Deputy Housing and Local Government Minister on May 25, 1999, before assuming his new portfolio as Deputy Defence Minister on Dec 14, 1999, until March 29, 2004.

Between 2000 and 2003, Mohd Shafie also became UMNO Supreme Council member.

On March 30, 2004, Mohd Shafie was appointed as Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister before assuming his next post as Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister in 2008.

Shafie has also served as an elected chairman of the executive committee of Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) from 2008 to 2009.

Under Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as the Prime Minister, Mohd Shafie was appointed as Rural and Regional Development Minister from 2009 to 2015 and it was his last ministerial post before being dropped from the cabinet.

In UMNO, Mohd Shafie was elected as party vice-president at the party election in 2009 alongside Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

In 2016, Mohd Shafie resigned as UMNO vice-president and Semporna UMNO division chief, to establish the Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan), a multi-religious party to fight for Sabah's interest.

In the 14th General Election (GE14) on May 9, Warisan led by Mohd Shafie garnered 21 state and eight parliamentary seats.

--BERNAMA