Mohd Shafie bin Apdal (Jawi: محمد شافعي بن أفضل; born 20 October 1957) is aMalaysianpolitician who has served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forSemporna since April 1995, StateLeader of the Opposition ofSabah since September 2020 and Member of theSabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) forSenallang since May 2018. He served as the 15thChief Minister and theState Minister of Finance ofSabah from May 2018 to September 2020,[1]Minister of Rural and Regional Development from April 2009 to July 2015 and Vice-President of theUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the rulingBarisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He has served as the 1st and founding President ofHeritage Party (WARISAN) since October 2016. He lost the power as Chief Minister of Sabah following the defeat of his coalition WARISAN + in the2020 state election.
Mohd. Shafie bin Apdal was born on 20 October 1957 in Semporna, Sabah, Malaysia into aBajau family.[2] He is the nephew ofSakaran Dandai, who was the eighth Chief Minister of Sabah and its former governor as well.[3]
Shafie completed his secondary education in Victoria Institution, Kuala Lumpur (but attendedSabah College, Kota Kinabalu for his middle school). He has a Diploma in Shipping Management from the London Business College (not to be confused with the London Business School). In 1992, he received his Bachelor in Economics (Hons) fromNorth Staffordshire Polytechnic, England.[4]
Shafie started his political career with theUnited Sabah National Organisation (USNO). The party dissolved in 1994, and Shafie joined UMNO, which was then only starting to gain a presence in the state. In 1995 he was elected to federal Parliament as an UMNO member, for the seat of Semporna.[5] He was appointed a parliamentary secretary before becoming Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government in 1999. From 1999 to 2004, he was Deputy Minister for Defence.
After the2004 election, he was appointed Minister of Domestic, Trade and Consumer Affairs in Prime MinisterAbdullah Ahmad Badawi's Cabinet and was later given the Ministry of Unity, Culture, Arts and Heritage. On 10 April 2009, he became the Minister of Rural and Regional Development in the first Cabinet of Prime MinisterNajib Razak. This coincided with his election to one of the party's three vice-presidential posts, polling in third place behindAhmad Zahid Hamidi andHishammuddin Hussein.[5] He was re-elected as an UMNO vice-president in 2013, this time polling in second place, behind Ahmad Zahid and ahead of Hishammuddin.[6] He is the first Sabahan to hold a vice-presidency of UMNO.[7]
On 28 July 2015, Shafie was removed in the Cabinet reshuffle by Najib thus losing his rural and regional development portfolio.[8] Following this, he formed a new Sabah-based opposition party known as WARISAN that was approved by Registrar of Societies (RoS) on 17 October 2016.[9][10]
In the2018 general election, Shafie's party of WARISAN together with the coalition ofPakatan Harapan (PH) are tied up with 29-29 seats with BN in the2018 Sabah state election.[11]Jeffrey Kitingan with his party ofHomeland Solidarity Party (STAR) under theUnited Sabah Alliance (USA) which are not aligned from either the two sides, has won two seats in the election and subsequently emerged as the decision maker for the formation of a state government from the two sides.[12] Jeffrey then decide to team up with the BN to form coalition state government with him appointed as a Deputy Chief Minister after Shafie Apdal the president of WARISAN disagreed to Jeffrey's permission to make Sabah's IC and solving theIllegal Immigrant issues in Sabah.Jeffrey Kitingan became the Deputy Chief Minister whileMusa Aman from BN to become the Chief Minister for another 5 years under the new coalition government (Coalition of BN-GBS).[13] However, situation change when six seats assemblymen from the BN allied parties ofUnited Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) andUnited Sabah People's Party (PBRS) switched their allegiance to WARISAN, giving Shafie an advantage with 35 seats which is sufficient to establish a valid state government.[14] Earlier, Musa Aman had already sworn in as Chief Minister following the help of two seats from STAR. This situation left Sabah with two ruling Chief Ministers, the second in its history since the dispute between PBS and USNO in 1980s. The results of this events sparks aconstitutional crisis in Sabah, and the need to review and change the current constitution so as to curb the "allegiance switching" of assemblymen, after the swearing-in ceremony of the chief minister.[15] Another four seats assemblymen from BN allied parties of UMNO and UPKO switching their allegiance to WARISAN on 13 May 2018.[16][17] TheYang di-Pertua NegeriJuhar Mahiruddin also had requested for Musa to step down,[18][19] despite Musa still stressing that he still the rightful Chief Minister.[20] Musa was then issued a letter from the TYT that he is no longer the Chief Minister effective from 12 May 2018 that was delivered into his residence on 14 May 2018.[21][22] On 7 November, the high court inKota Kinabalu decided that Shafie remained the legitimate Chief Minister of Sabah and dismissed a suit made by Musa who claimed his dismissal as chief minister was illegal and against the state constitution.[23][24][25]
On 30 July 2020, upon the political manoeuvring inSabah, he announced that theYang di-Pertua NegeriJuhar Mahiruddin had agreed to dissolve theSabah State Legislative Assembly to hold a state election in his audience with Juhar.
On 27 September 2020, his party lost its majority in the Sabah Election to theGabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) led by Datuk Seri PanglimaHajiji Noor. This makes Datuk Seri PanglimaHajiji Noor as newChief Minister of Sabah. After leaving office as the Chief Minister of Sabah, Shafie consistently and vocally criticised Hajiji and his GRS administration over their handling of a number of issues such as the water crisis in the state.
He is married to Shuryani Shuaib and has six children.[26]
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | P164Semporna | Mohd Shafie Apdal (UMNO) | 17,006 | 78.03% | Sabardin Ombrah (PBS) | 4,788 | 21.97% | 22,197 | 12,218 | 66.59% | ||
| 1999 | Mohd Shafie Apdal (UMNO) | 18,570 | 77.98% | Abdul Rahim (IND) | 5,245 | 22.02% | 24,155 | 13,325 | 58.48% | |||
| 2004 | P189Semporna | Mohd Shafie Apdal (UMNO) | 15,215 | 76.25% | Madjalis Lais (IND) | 1,896 | 9.50% | 20,918 | 13,319 | 61.94% | ||
| Aldani Landi (IND) | 1,286 | 6.44% | ||||||||||
| Nuraidah Abdul Salleh (IND) | 816 | 4.09% | ||||||||||
| Abdul Wahab Abdullah (PKR) | 740 | 3.71% | ||||||||||
| 2008 | Mohd Shafie Apdal (UMNO) | 19,419 | 90.84% | Abd Azis Abd Hamid (PKR) | 1,957 | 9.16% | 22,209 | 17,462 | 63.07% | |||
| 2013 | Mohd Shafie Apdal (UMNO) | 25,559 | 83.70% | Zamree @ Mohd Suffian Abd Habi (PKR) | 4,654 | 15.24% | 31,595 | 20,905 | 76.04% | |||
| Datu Badaruddin Mustapha (IND) | 325 | 1.06% | ||||||||||
| 2018 | Mohd Shafie Apdal (WARISAN) | 26,809 | 80.20% | Ramlee Marahaban (UMNO) | 6,135 | 18.35% | 34,613 | 20,674 | 71.74% | |||
| Abdul Nasir Raup (PAS) | 384 | 1.15% | ||||||||||
| Asmara Asmad (PHRS) | 98 | 0.29% | ||||||||||
| 2022 | Mohd Shafie Apdal (WARISAN) | 28,702 | 73.77% | Nixon Abdul Habi (BERSATU) | 7,892 | 20.28% | 39,978 | 20,810 | 53.91% | |||
| Arastam Pandorog (PKR) | 1,848 | 4.75% | ||||||||||
| Ab Rajik Ab Hamid (PEJUANG) | 467 | 1.2% | ||||||||||
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | N53Senallang | Mohd Shafie Apdal (WARISAN) | 7,754 | 75.97% | Nasir Sakaran (UMNO) | 2,453 | 24.03% | 10,514 | 5,301 | 73.02% | ||
| 2020 | N65Senallang | Mohd Shafie Apdal (WARISAN) | 6,363 | 77.16% | Norazman Utoh Naim (BERSATU) | 1,732 | 21.01% | 8,246 | 4,631 | 57.52% | ||
| Mohammad Razman Abdu Wahab (USNO (Baru)) | 61 | 0.74% | ||||||||||
| Mad Jalie Lais (PCS) | 51 | 0.62% | ||||||||||
| Pangiran Ahmad Ali Alam (PPRS) | 39 | 0.47% | ||||||||||
| 2025 | Mohd Shafie Apdal (WARISAN) | % | Marunda KK Ampong (GAGASAN) | % | ||||||||
| Samsu Sundalu (IMPIAN) | % | |||||||||||
| Abdul Majid Angkulan (MUPP) | % | |||||||||||
Malaysia_ribbon.svg)
Recipient of theNational Sovereignty Medal (PKN) (2014)[30]
Recipient of the17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Installation Medal
Malacca
Companion Class I of theExalted Order of Malacca (DMSM) –Datuk (2002)[31]
Pahang
Knight Companion of theOrder of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (DSAP) –Dato' (2003)[32]
Perlis
Knight Grand Commander of theOrder of the Crown of Perlis (SPMP) –Dato' Seri (2008)[33]
Sabah
Grand Commander of theOrder of Kinabalu (SPDK) –Datuk Seri Panglima (2011)[34]
Commander of theOrder of Kinabalu (PGDK) –Datuk (1994)
Sarawak
Knight Commander of theMost Exalted Order of the Star of Sarawak (PNBS) –Dato Sri (2014)[36]Buku tersebut akan diberi tajuk Dirimu Diriku dan Reflection of Life. Ia juga didedikasikan kepada pencinta seni yang mahu berkongsi pengalaman yang saya lalui," jelas ibu kepada enam cahaya mata ini.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Chief Minister of Sabah 2018–2020 | Succeeded by |
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