The deputy prime minister of Malaysia (; ) is the second-highest political office in Malaysia. There have been 15 officeholders since the office was created in 1957. The first prime minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, started the convention of appointing a deputy prime minister, but some cabinets have opted not to appoint a deputy prime minister.
Malaysia has had a deputy prime minister since independence, but the prime minister may choose not to appoint one. The office of deputy prime minister is not officially provided in the constitution of Malaysia. A prime minister could also appoint more than one deputy prime minister, as has occurred before in Singapore.
From August 1957 to May 2018, when the coalition government Barisan Nasional (BN), of which the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) was the main component party, and the only ruling coalition, the UMNO deputy president was usually appointed the deputy prime minister by the prime minister, who was the UMNO president. In the organisational structure of BN, the president and deputy president of UMNO were automatically made the chairman and deputy chairman of BN, respectively.
From May 2018 to February 2020, when Pakatan Harapan (PH), a political coalition of four parties, was the only ruling coalition, the holder of the position of deputy prime minister was decided upon by the presidential council of PH. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was the first female holder of office, was the post holder.ÃÂ
The position was vacant for 16 months when Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as prime minister in March 2020 after Perikatan Nasional (PN) was the ruling coalition until July 2021. Ismail Sabri Yaakob was then appointed and briefly served for 40 days before taking over as prime minister. This made him the shortest-serving officeholder in history.
Between August 2021 till December 2022, when BN became again the ruling coalition, there have been no holders of the office of the deputy prime minister for 13 months.The position then is filled by Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Fadillah Yusof, the first duo deputy prime minister in Malaysian history.
Of the thirteen previous officeholders, eight have stepped up to become Prime Ministers. Of the remaining, one died in office, two resigned, two were removed from office (both who later became Prime Ministers) by the sitting prime minister, and two disqualified from office due to defeat in the 2018 general election and collapse of the federal administration in 2020 political crisis.
Ismail Abdul Rahman died in office due to massive heart attack in 1973. Musa Hitam resigned from second Mahathir cabinet over differences with prime minister over government policy in 1986. Ghafar Baba resigned from his portfolio following UMNO grassroots lost confidence in his leadership and his position as Deputy President of UMNO was challenged by Anwar Ibrahim in the UMNO's top leadership election. Anwar Ibrahim was the first deputy prime minister to be sacked after being accused and subsequently charged with corruption and sodomy in 1998. Muhyiddin Yassin was the second DPM to be removed from office after being dropped from the Cabinet by former prime minister Najib Razak in a reshuffle in 2015. He later was sacked from his party. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail's role as deputy prime minister ended after the seventh Mahathir cabinet was dissolved due to its fall from the federal administration in 2020.
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