Zahid Arip

Muhammad Zahid bin Md. Arip (born 22 June 1966) is a Malaysian politician who served as a Senator from June 2020 to June 2023 during the tenure of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin as the 8th Prime Minister and also the Political Secretary to the 7th Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad from 2018 to 2020.^[1] He is a member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and formerly Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalitions and was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He also served as Member of the Supreme Council of BERSATU from 2016 to 2020.^[2]

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Mat Arip is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Muhammad Zahid. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.

Zahid Arip
محمد زاهد بن مت عارڤ
Senator
In office 16 June 2020 – 15 June 2023
Monarch	Abdullah
Prime Minister	Muhyiddin Yassin (2020–2021) Ismail Sabri Yaakob (2021–2022) Anwar Ibrahim (2022–2023)
Political Secretary to the Prime Minister
In office 2018–2020
Monarchs	Muhammad V (2018–2019) Abdullah (2019–2020)
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Member of the Supreme Council of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party
In office 2016–2020
President	Muhyiddin Yassin
Chairman	Mahathir Mohamad
Personal details
Born	Muhammad Zahid bin Md. Arip (1966-06-22) 22 June 1966 (age 59) Malacca, Malaysia
Political party	United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) (–2016) Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) (since 2016)
Other political affiliations	Barisan Nasional (BN) (–2016) Pakatan Harapan (PH) (2017–2020) Perikatan Nasional (PN) (since 2020)

He had also served as a Special Officer to the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) Chairman, Tan Sri Mohd Isa Abdul Samad during the tenure of Dato' Sri Mohd Najib Razak as the 6th Prime Minister.

Family

He is the grandnephew of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Tun Abdul Ghafar Baba. His uncle is Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, the 15th Chief of Navy of the Royal Malaysian Navy.

Politics

He was a former United Malays National Organization member before joining United Indigenous Party. After joining United Indigenous Party, he was appointed as a Member of the party's Supreme Leadership Council.

In the general elections in 2018, he contested for the Pekan district, but lost to the incumbent, Dato' Sri Najib Razak.^[3]