29.12.1937–?
Mohd Khalil Yaakob
Mohd Khalil bin Yaakob was born in Kuantan in 1937 and began as a diplomat, serving in Italy, Morocco, Singapore and Indonesia. He then entered politics: for thirteen years he headed the government of the state of Pahang, and later he was Malaysia’s Minister of Information. From 2004 to 2020 he was head of state of Malacca, and during his term the city of Malacca was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Biography
One evening in August 2011, on the stage of the State Culture and Art Auditorium in Malacca, the state’s governor himself took the floor. For forty-five minutes he re-enacted the role of the Indian actor Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran in the film “Vettaikaaran”. Khalil had long been a fan of Tamil cinema and of this actor.
He was born on 29 December 1937 in Kuantan, in the state of Pahang. He studied at Malay College Kuala Kangsar and then graduated from the University of Malaya with a Bachelor of Arts. His first profession was the diplomatic service; he served in Italy, Morocco, Singapore and Indonesia. He entered politics through the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), part of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. In the 1978 general elections he was elected to the Pahang State Assembly for the Bukit Ibam seat. In 1982 he won the parliamentary seat of Maran and became Deputy Minister of Education. In 1984 he joined the Cabinet as a Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department; in the same year he became a member of UMNO’s supreme council. In the 1986 elections he won the Bukit Tajau seat, and in August of that year he was appointed Menteri Besar (chief minister) of Pahang. He held that office until May 1999, through three terms of the state assembly.
In April 2001 Fauzi Abdul Rahman, a member of the Pahang State Assembly, lodged a police report accusing Khalil of misappropriating state resources while he was head of the state government. What became of it is not known.
In 1999 Khalil returned to federal politics: in the general elections he was elected Member of Parliament for Kuantan, and in December he became Minister of Information in the government of Mahathir Mohamad. In the same year he became secretary-general of UMNO and remained so until his appointment as governor. He did not stand in the next election, in 2004, and in March his ministerial term ended.
On 4 June 2004 the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the supreme ruler of Malaysia), Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, appointed him Yang di-Pertua Negeri (governor) of Malacca. Khalil remained in that post for sixteen years, until June 2020. Among the aims of his term he named making Malacca a developed state by 2010 and a “Green Technology City State” by 2013. On 7 July 2008 the historic city of Malacca was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The years of his tenure also saw major state projects: the artificial island Pulau Melaka, the Malacca Straits Mosque, shopping centres on Jalan Hang Tuah and the Dataran Pahlawan Megamall, the Taming Sari Tower, a planetarium, the Melaka Sentral station, a monorail and a coastal land reclamation project. There were also plans to make the airport at Batu Berendam international.
He holds the highest federal honours: the title Tan Sri (1989) with the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia, and the title Tun (2004) with the Order of the Defender of the Realm. He has also received honours from the states of Pahang, Kelantan, Terengganu, Sabah, Sarawak and Malacca itself, as well as the German Order of Merit. On 29 September 2016 Limkokwing University of Creative Technology awarded him an honorary doctorate in leadership. The Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob Mosque at Tanjung Minyak is named after him.
Profile notes