The president of the Senate (; Jawi: ) is the presiding officer or speaker of the Dewan Negara, the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia.
The president of the Senate is created under Article 56 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The office is similar to the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat: the president is elected by the members of the Senate and is expected to be politically impartial. If a member of the Dewan Negara is elected as the president and is a member of a state legislative assembly, he must resign from the assembly before exercising the functions of the office. As the president may hold different titles while in office, it also changes the style. The position has been held by Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) since July 2024.
Functions The main functions of the president of the Dewan Negara are:President of the Senate , Parliament of Malaysia to preside over the sittings of the Dewan Negara to be responsible for the observance of the rules in the Dewan Negara to ensure the relevancy of the points raised during the debate to interpret the Standing Orders in case of disputes and the decision is final
List of presidents of the Dewan Negara As of , almost all presidents of the Dewan Negara won unopposed in the presidential election except for Rais Yatim.
No. Portrait Name Term of officePartyParliament 1Abdul Rahman Mohamed Yassin11 September195931 December1968Alliance (UMNO)1st2nd 2 Syed Sheh Barakbah 27 January1969 5 February1969 Alliance (UMNO)–3Mohamed Noah Omar24 February196928 July1970Alliance (UMNO)– 3rd4Abdul Hamid KhanAppointed Senator(1900–1974)20 February197122 February1973Alliance (UMNO)–5Ong Yoke LinAppointed Senator(1917–2010)23 February197330 December1980 Alliance (MCA)–BN (MCA)4th5th6Ismail Khan Ibrahim Khan31 December198013 April1985 BN (UMNO)–6th7Benedict Stephens15 April198511 April1988 Independent–7th8Abang Ahmad Urai11 July19889 July1990 BN (PBB)–9Chan Choong Tak17 December199031 March1992 BN (MCA)8th10Vadiveloo Govindasamy13 April199212 June1995 BN (MIC)–9th11Adam Kadir13 June199530 November1997 BN (UMNO)–12Mohamed Yaacob10 December19975 December2000 BN (UMNO)–10th13Michael Chen Wing Sum7 December200011 April2003 BN (MCA)–14Abdul Hamid Pawanteh7 July20036 July2009 BN (UMNO)–11th12th15Wong Foon Meng7 July200912 April2010 BN (MCA)–16Abu Zahar Ujang26 April201025 April2016 BN (UMNO)– 13th17Vigneswaran Sanasee26 April201622 June2020 BN (MIC)–14th18Rais Yatim2 September202015 June2023PN (BERSATU)–15th19Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar20232024GPS (PBB)–20Mutang Tagal20242024GPS (PBB)–21Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah2024IncumbentGPS (PBB)–
Election results Election date Candidate(s) Votes Nominated by Seconded by Secretary 11 September 1959 Abdul Rahman Mohamed Yasin Unopposed Leong Yew Koh Tan Tong Hye Ramli Abdul Hamid 15 October 1962 Sheikh Abu Bakar Yahya, pro tempore Leong Yew Koh Tan Tong Hye Ahmad Abdullah 18 October 1965 Abdul Rahman Mohamed Yasin Tan Tong Hye Amaluddin Darus 27 January 1969 Syed Sheh Syed Hassan Barakbah Abdul Ghafar Baba J. E. S. Crawford 24 February 1969 Mohamad Noah Omar Abdul Ghafar Baba Pandak Hamid Puteh Jali 20 February 1971 Abdul Hamid Khan Sakhawat Ali Khan Abdul Kadir Yusuf Tan Tong Hye Lim Joo Keng 23 February 1973 Omar Yoke Lin Ong Abdul Kadir Yusuf Kamarul Ariffin Mohd Yassin 6 January 1975 Omar Yoke Lin Ong Athi Nahappan Pandak Hamid Puteh Jali 31 December 1980 Ismail Khan Mohamed Nasir Michael Wong Kuan Lee Ahmad Hasmuni Hussein 15 December 1983 Ismail Khan James Peter Ongkili Ariffin Salleh 15 April 1985 Benedict Stephens Mohamed Yusof Mohamed Noor Tan Chang Soong 11 July 1988 Abang Ahmad Urai Abang Mohideen Kasitah Gaddam Hussein Ahmad Abdul Rahim Abu Bakar 17 December 1990 Chan Choong Tak Abdul Ghafar Baba Annuar Musa Mohamed Salleh Abu Bakar 13 April 1992 Vadiveloo Govindasamy Mahathir Mohamad Ling Liong Sik 14 December 1994 Vadiveloo Govindasamy Anwar Ibrahim Ling Liong Sik 13 June 1995 Adam Kadir Anwar Ibrahim Samy Vellu 10 December 1997 Mohamed Yaacob Anwar Ibrahim Chong Kah Kiat Abdullah Abdul Wahab 27 December 1999 Mohamed Yaacob Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Abdul Hamid Othman 7 December 2000 Michael Chen Wing Sum Ling Liong Sik Samy Vellu 7 July 2003 Abdul Hamid Pawanteh Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor M. Kayveas 19 July 2006 Abdul Hamid Pawanteh M. Kayveas Abdul Raman Suliman Zamani Sulaiman 7 July 2009 Wong Foon Meng Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz Ong Tee Keat 26 April 2010 Abu Zahar Ujang Koh Tsu Koon Shahrizat Abdul Jalil 26 April 2016 Vigneswaran Sanasee Azalina Othman Said J Loga Bala Mohan Riduan Rahmat2 September 2020Rais Yatim 45Takiyuddin HassanShabudin YahayaMuhammad Sujairi AbdullahYusmadi Yusoff19Ahmad Azam HamzahMohamad Imran Abdul Hamid19 June 2023Wan Junaidi Tuanku JaafarUnopposedAnwar IbrahimTengku Zafrul Aziz19 February 2024Mutang TagalUnopposedAnwar IbrahimAzalina Othman Said22 July 2024Awang Bemee Awang Ali BasahUnopposedAnwar IbrahimAzalina Othman Said
See also Dewan Negara Parliament of Malaysia Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat
References
External links Parliament of Malaysia (Official site)