Hulu Selangor parliamentarian Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad, who died this evening, was an academician before making his foray into politics.

Born in Cheras here on Oct 10, 1939, he began his working career as a teacher at Sekolah Tinggi Kajang (1961-1968) and later became principal of Sekolah Menengah Kuala Kubu Baru (1972-1973) before being appointed as Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturer in 1974.

azlan He obtained a doctorate in political science from University of California, Los Angeles in 1980 and went on to become dean of UKM's education faculty before leaving the academic world to take up politics in 1989.

In Umno, Zainal Abidin had been Cheras Umno chairman (1987) and had also headed Hulu Langat Umno for several terms.

He joined PKR in 2005 and became a member of the party's supreme council for the 2007/2010 term.

Zainal was also active in various organisations and had once headed the Persekutuan Pelajar Melayu (Malay Students Federation), Majlis Pemuda Hulu Langat (Hulu Langat Youth Council) and had been vice-president of the Selangor Amateur Athletics Association.

While in Umno, Zainal won the Dusun Tua state seat on the BN ticket three consecutive times, in 1990, 1995 and 1999.

He was dropped as a candidate in the 2004 general election.

Scored major upset

In the 2008 election, he scored a major upset in the BN's safe seat of Hulu Selangor when he defeated the incumbent G Palanivel, who is MIC deputy president, by a slim majority of 198 votes.

Meanwhile, his second child Azri Zin, 36, said his father managed to offer some advise to all the children before his last breath.

His three other children are Azura, 37, Aznizah, 29 and Azizah, 25.

Meanwhile, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said he lost a fellow comrade who was always ready to take risks with PKR despite his poor state of health.

"PKR is sad to have lost an academician and we wish to offer our deepest condolence to his family," he said after paying his last respects here today.

- Bernama