Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, who was named the health minister in the new cabinet of Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad yesterday, is a respected leader in the Kuala Selangor parliamentary constituency where he is the MP.

The 62-year-old Amanah strategic director holds a BSc degree from the University of Birmingham and a MSc degree from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom.

He received his doctorate in medical science (toxicology) from Imperial College (St Mary’s Hospital Medical School) in 1993.

Born in Rembau, Dzulkefly served as a lecturer at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia and the Universiti Sains Malaysia Hospital in the 1980s and 1990s.

Dzulkefly is married to Azlin Hezri and they have seven children.

He had been a vocal political analyst and was arrested during a protest against the increase of oil prices in 2008.

Dzulkefly had been invited often to present working papers, both at the national and international levels, particularly in topics related to economic development and race relations.

In 2008, he published a collection of political analyses in a book entitled Blind Spot, and has been a columnist for the PAS’ Harakah and The Edge Financial Daily.

He was also active as a leader of the student movement in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s and was also a social activist in NGOs.

In politics, Dzulkefly contested for the first time on a PAS ticket in the Kuala Selangor parliamentary seat in the 12th general election in 2008, and won with a slim majority of 862 votes.

However, in GE13, he failed to defend the seat, losing to Irmohizam Ibrahim of BN by 460 votes.

In GE14, on May 9, Dzulkefly recaptured the seat with a majority of 8,498 votes.

- Bernama