Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau's profile




File photo

KOTA KINABALU, May 16 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Wilfred Madius Tangau, of Dusun descent, was born on March 13, 1958, in Kampung Lokos, Kiulu, Tuaran, Sabah.

He graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Universiti Pertanian Malaysia (now Universiti Putra Malaysia) in 1983 and obtained a Master's Degree in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) in the Philippines in 1990.

Madius, 60, is married to Datin Seri Dr. Jaina Sintian and have five children.

After returning to Sabah in 1985 he joined Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) as a support staff to form a new Sabah government.

He was made a researcher at the newly set up Institute for Development Studies (IDS) and served for nine years until 1994.

When PBS was defeated by the Barisan Nasional (BN) in 1994, Madius helped the leaders who left the party to set up the Sabah Democratic Party (PDS) and over the next five years, he served as Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Indigenous Economic Progress (INDEP ) Sabah, a think-tank set established by PDS.

During the 1999 state election, 10 of the 12 contesting PDS candidates were defeated and due to the unsatisfactory election results, all the members of the party joined the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO).

Madius was requested by the party leadership to contest in the 1999 general election, and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Tuaran for the first time, and again in 2004.

He did not contest in the 12th general election in 2008 to make way for then UPKO deputy president Datuk Wilfred Bumburing to contest, but in the 13th general election in May 2013, Madius was once again elected Tuaran MP when he defeated Bumburing whom at that time had joined and competed on a Parti Keadilan Rakyat ticket.

Madius was elected the deputy president in October 2013.

In March 2014, UPKO founding president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok resigned, nearly 10 months after he lost the Penampang parliamentary in the 13th general election, and since then, Madius served as acting UPKO president.

At the recently concluded 14th general election, UPKO, which won a parliamentary seat and five state seats, played an important role in the formation of the Sabah state government.

UPKO's decision to leave BN and join Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) had enabled the party to form a new state government, led by Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, as Chief Minister of Sabah.

-- BERNAMA