Mohamad bin Hasan (; born 2 May 1956), familiarly known as Tok Mat or Mat Hasan, is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since 2023, and was previously the Minister of Defence.
He also serves as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rembau and Member of the Negeri Sembilan State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Rantau. He previously served as the 10th Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan from 2004 to 2018 and was that state's Leader of the Opposition between 2018 and 2023.
A member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), he has been its deputy president since 2018, and is also the deputy chairman of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
Mohamad was born in Kampung Kundur Hilir, Rantau, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, on 2 May 1956. He received his early education at Sekolah Kebangsaan Datuk Akhir Zaman, Rantau, and continued his secondary education at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Rantau. After completing secondary education, he went to Form 6 at Tuanku Ampuan Durah Secondary School, Seremban, and later pursued his undergraduate degree in International Relations at the University of Malaya (UM) in 1975.
Mohamad started his career with Malayan Banking Berhad as a trainee officer. His last position with Maybank was assistant branch manager at the Petaling Jaya main branch before joining Arab Malaysia Merchant Bank. His last position with Arab Malaysian Merchant Bank was Manager at their Johor Bahru branch. Mohamad later moved to Bank Bumiputera Malaysia Berhad, and had served as General Manager of Bank Bumiputera London (1988âÂÂ1992). After the banking world, he moved to the corporate sector as chief executive officer of Cold Storage Malaysia Berhad (1992âÂÂ1994). His last position in the corporate sector was as managing director of Cycle and Carriage Bintang Berhad (1994âÂÂ2004).
In addition, Mohamad was also a member of the Board of Directors of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, as well as Chairman of the FIMA Berhad Group, as well as the Board of Directors of Sepang International Circuit (SIC).
Following Barisan Nasional's victory in the 2004 election in Negeri Sembilan, Mohamad was sworn in as Menteri Besar of Negeri Sembilan on 25 March 2004. He had also won the constituency of Rantau in that state's legislative assembly, and successfully defended in the 2008 and 2013 elections. Having initially won unopposed in 2018 after the Election Commission (EC) barred People's Justice Party (PKR)âÂÂs candidate Streram Sinnansamy from filing his nomination papers, a by-election was held following the Election Court's decision that Mohamad's victory was null and void, which he subsequently won.
During his term as Menteri Besar, the state's debt to the federal government was reduced from RM2 billion to RM700 million, and the state had a cash reserve of RM500 million by 2018. Mohamad subsequently touted himself as a "crisis manager".
Following the 2018 Malaysian general election, Mohamad was touted as a possible successor to UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and calls for him to replace Zahid persisted past the 2022 Malaysian general election. His candidacy was supported by Barisan Nasional's three other component parties: the Malaysian Chinese Association, the Malaysian Indian Congress, and the United Sabah People's Party, as well as elements within UMNO involving Mohamad himself. However, he later switched his support to Zahid.
Mohamad is also the Rembau UMNO Division Chief, an UMNO Supreme Council Member and UMNO Deputy President. Mohamad was Acting President of UMNO during Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's six-month garden leave from 19 December 2018 to 30 June 2019.
During his term as Menteri Besar, the state's debt to the federal government was reduced from RM2 billion to RM700 million, and the state had a cash reserve of RM500 million by 2018. Mohamad subsequently touted himself as a "crisis manager".
Following UMNO and BN's defeat in Negeri Sembilan in the 2018 election, the incoming Pakatan Harapan (PH) state government publicly praised Mohamad's administration. Mohamad was the state leader of the opposition from 2 July 2018 until 1 July 2023.
On 2 December 2022, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced his cabinet. Mohamad was appointed to lead the Ministry of Defence.
In the 2023 cabinet reshuffle, three former UMNO Menteri Besar exchanged portfolios between each other. Mohamad took over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from Zambry Abdul Kadir. Zambry took over Ministry of Higher Education from Mohamed Khaled Nordin. Khaled took over the Ministry of Defence from Mohamad.
<small>Note: <sup>1</sup> The Election Court has on the 16 September 2018, passed a ruling that Mohamad Hasan had not been duly elected and a fresh by-election was called to be held after Mohamad Hasan's appeal was dismissed by the Federal Court on 18 February 2019.</small>