Hassan Abdul Karim Explained

Honorific Prefix:Yang Berhormat Tuan
Native Name:حسن بن عبد الكريم
Office:5th President of the Parti Rakyat Malaysia
Term Start:17 April 2005
Term End:17 November 2009
Deputy:S. K. Song
Predecessor:Syed Husin Ali
Successor:Ariffin Salimon
Office1:State Chairman of the
People's Justice Party of Johor
President1:Wan Azizah Wan Ismail

Anwar Ibrahim
Term Start1:28 December 2018
Term End1:12 July 2019
Predecessor1:Chua Jui Meng
Successor1:Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh
Office2:Chairman of the
Federal-State Relations Select Committee
Term Start2:4 December 2018
Term End2:19 November 2022
Predecessor2:Position established
Successor2:Position abolished
Constituency Mp3:Pasir Gudang
Parliament3:Malaysian
Term Start3:9 May 2018
Predecessor3:Normala Abdul Samad
(BNUMNO)
Majority3:24,726 (2018)
31,558 (2022)
Birth Name:Hassan bin Abdul Karim
Birth Date:17 October 1951
Birth Place:Pontian, Johor, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Party:Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM)

People's Justice Party (PKR)
Otherparty:Barisan Alternatif (BA)

Pakatan Rakyat (PR)

Pakatan Harapan (PH)
Alma Mater:University of Malaya
University of London
Citizenship:Malaysian
Residence:Pontian Besar, Pontian, Johor, Malaysia
Occupation:Politician
Profession:Lawyer
Footnotes:

Hassan bin Abdul Karim (born 17 October 1951; Jawi: حسن بن عبد الكريم) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Pasir Gudang since May 2018. He was chairman of the Federal-State Relations Select Committee from December 2018 to November 2022.

He is a member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, and served as the state chairman of its Johor branch from December 2018 until his resignation in July 2019. Hassan previously led Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) as its president.

Political career

Hassan, a lawyer by profession,[1] joined PRM in 1978 before rising to become its youth chief.[2] In April 2005, Hassan was elected president by a faction of dissident members who were opposed to party's merger with the National Justice Party into the People's Justice Party (PKR).[3]

Following the rejection of Hassan's proposal that the party enter into the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition at a party congress, he announced his intention to resign on 15 November 2009. The same month, he re-joined PKR, then a Pakatan component party.[3]

In the 2018 general election, Hassan was nominated by PKR to contest the Pasir Gudang parliamentary seat. He defeated incumbent Menteri Besar of Johor Mohamed Khaled Nordin of Barisan Nasional (BN) and three other candidates by a majority of 24,726 votes. On 4 December 2018, Hassan was appointed Chairman of the Federal-State Relations Select Committee, a parliamentary committee.[4]

Following Anwar's release from prison and return as president of PKR, Hassan was appointed the party's Johor state chairman in 2018.[5] However, following allegations of nepotism due to some of the appointees being allegedly linked to Anwar, Hassan initially refused the appointment.[6] On 28 December 2018, he reversed his decision and accepted the position[7] but later resigned 12 July 2019,[8] citing differences with the Johor palace.[9] [10]

In the 2022 general election, Hassan successfully defended his seat and was re-elected by a majority of 31,558 votes.

Legal issues

On 16 November 2015, Hassan was charged at the Shah Alam Sessions Court with three counts of making seditious statements via his public Twitter account in which he was alleged to have criticised the Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah being abroad during Selangor Mentri Besar crisis in 2014.[11] He was discharged not amounting to an acquittal by the Sessions Court in May 2018, following the prosecution's decision to drop the charges.[12] On 10 May 2019, he was finally granted a full acquittal on the sedition charges by the Shah Alam High Court.[13]

Election results

Year!
ConstituencyCandidateVotesPctOpponent(s)VotesPctBallots castMajorityTurnout
1986P129 Tebrau, Johorbgcolor= Hassan Abdul Karim (PSRM)16,08537.21% (UMNO)27,13862.79%45,49711,05369.78%
1999P140 Tebrau, Johorbgcolor= Hassan Abdul Karim (PRM)13,79921.87% (UMNO)49,28478.13%65,57235,48575.19%
2004P164 Pontian, JohorHassan Abdul Karim (PKR)5,50917.12% (UMNO)26,66782.88%33,46021,15875.40%
2008P160 Johor Bahru, Johorbgcolor= Hassan Abdul Karim (PRM)17,79429.20% (UMNO)43,14370.80%62,44025,34969.59%
2013P144 Ledang, JohorHassan Abdul Karim (PKR)28,65248.34% (UMNO)30,61951.66%60,3821,96787.11%
2018P159 Pasir Gudang, Johor (PKR)61,61558.68%Mohamed Khaled Nordin (UMNO)36,88935.13%106,57624,72685.83%
Ab Aziz Abdullah (PAS)6,2785.98%
Sey Jock @ Chee Jock (IND)2270.21%
2022Hassan Abdul Karim (PKR)71,23347.72%bgcolor= Mohamad Farid Abdul Razak (BERSATU)39,67526.58%149,28031,55875.21%
Noor Azlen Ambros (UMNO)37,36925.03%
bgcolor= Mohammad Raffi Beran (IMAN)1,0030.67%

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: PKR: Pasir Gudang voters more welcoming this time around. 2 May 2018. V Anbalagan. Free Malaysia Today. 23 November 2009.
  2. News: Lonely crusade to revive PRM. 17 April 2005 . JOCELINE TAN. . 4 May 2019.
  3. News: PRM chief joins PKR. 4 May 2019. Sira Habibu. The Star. 23 November 2009.
  4. Web site: Six new select committees announced, Anwar heads reforms caucus. Malaysiakini. 26 April 2019. 4 December 2018.
  5. News: Some obscure faces made PKR state chiefs. Andrew Ong . 16 December 2018 . . 4 May 2019.
  6. News: Hassan Karim rejects Johor PKR chief post . 17 December 2018. Royce Tan. The Star. 4 May 2019.
  7. News: Hassan terima semula jawatan pengerusi PKR Johor. Muhammad Zikri. . ms . 1 January 2019.
  8. News: Hassan Karim quits as PKR Johor chief. Azril Annuar. Malay Mail. 19 July 2019. 20 July 2019.
  9. News: Anwar: Johor PKR chief resigned over party issues and spat with ruler. Yiswaree Palansamy. Malay Mail. 20 July 2019. 25 July 2019.
  10. News: Hassan adamant on quitting as Johor PKR chief, admits to differences with palace. Lu Wei Hoong. Malaysiakini. 24 July 2019. 25 July 2019.
  11. News: Johor PKR leader pleads not guilty to making seditious statements against Selangor Sultan. Firdaous Fadzil. The Star. 16 November 2015. 20 July 2019.
  12. News: Court discharges Johor PKR chief over charge related to tweets on sultan. Free Malaysia Today. 27 July 2018. 20 July 2019.
  13. News: Pasir Gudang MP wins full acquittal on sedition charges. Ng Xiang Yi. Malaysiakini. 11 May 2019. 20 July 2019.