Ramli Ngah Talib

In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Ngah Talib is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Ramli. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato' Seri DiRaja Ramli Ngah Talib PSM SPSA SPCM PCM JP AMN
رملي ڠه طالب
7th Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat
In office 22 November 2004 – 13 February 2008
Monarchs	Sirajuddin Mizan Zainal Abidin
Prime Minister	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Deputy	Lim Si Cheng Yusof Yacob
Preceded by	Mohamed Zahir Ismail
Succeeded by	Pandikar Amin Mulia
Constituency	Pasir Salak
8th Menteri Besar of Perak
In office 1 March 1983 – 2 December 1999
Monarchs	Idris II Azlan Shah
Prime Minister	Mahathir Mohamad
Preceded by	Wan Mohamed Wan Teh
Succeeded by	Tajol Rosli Mohd Ghazali
Personal details
Born	Ramli bin Ngah Talib (1941-03-16) 16 March 1941 Pasir Salak, Perak, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Citizenship	Malaysian
Political party	United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)
Other political affiliations	Barisan Nasional (BN) Perikatan Nasional (PN) Muafakat Nasional (MN)
Spouse	Puan Sri Datin Seri Diraja Dato' Raja Noora Ashikin binti Raja Abdullah
Children	Toh Muda Dato’ Rizal Ashram Ramelle Ashram Putri Azalea Ashram Putri Yasmin Ashram
Alma mater	Queen's University Belfast

Ramli bin Ngah Talib (born 16 March 1941) is a Malaysian politician who was active in the United Malays National Organisation. He served as the 8th Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Perak from 1982 to 1999 and was the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat of the Malaysian Parliament from 2004 to 2008.

Early life and career

Born in the Malaysian rural heartland of Pasir Salak, Perak, he was raised in a kampong upbringing. Both his great grandfather Tok Anjang Pelita and great great grandfather Dato' Sagor, Dato Maharaja Lela and other Malay warriors were involved in the rebellion against British occupation in Malaya, resulting in the killing of the first British Resident of Perak, Mr. J. W. W. Birch on 2 November 1875.

With the essential qualification he was accepted to the school of his choice, furthering his studies at the Malay College, Kuala Kangsar. Successful, he pursued his studies in Law at Queens University, Belfast where he obtained an LL.B. (Hons) before obtaining his Barrister-at-Law degree at Lincoln’s Inn, London. In the 1960s whilst in the United Kingdom, he was active in the Students Union in Belfast of Northern Ireland, the political secretary and magazine editor of Kesatuan Melayu United Kingdom(United Kingdom Malay Students Association) based in London. On returning to Malaysia, he became a Law Lecturer at the Institute Technology Mara (now known as UITM) and a part-time lecturer at the University of Malaya in the early 70’s. In 1971 he became the first inhouse legal advisor of Lembaga Letrik Negara (now known as Tenaga) and at the same time he became qualified as an Advocate and Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya. He started practising law in Kadir, Tan & Ramli which he co-founded in 1977. Around this time he was appointed as a member of the Board of Directors of Utusan Melayu, a Malay mainstream media and a member of the Board of Directors of Lembaga Lektrik Negara (now Tenaga Nasional Bhd), the country's biggest power utility company.

Politics

Tan Sri Ramli was first elected as a Perak State Assemblyman for his area Kg. Gajah Perak, in 1978, then appointed as a member of the State Executive Council, Perak. In the first year of the second term as State Assemblyman, he has reached the pinnacle of his chosen vocation by being appointed as the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) of Perak and remained as one for more than 17 years, the longest serving Chief Minister of Perak. He became a Member of Malaysian Parliament in 1999 for the Pasir Salak constituency. During the first term as a Member of Parliament, he was appointed as a Deputy Minister of Transport and later headed the public custodian committee as Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. In 2004 as a Member of Parliament, he was elected as the Speaker of Dewan Rakyat. On the literary front, when he was the Chief Minister of Perak, he wrote a book entitled “Pasir Salak: Sehamparan Sejarah Perjuangan”, a book about the Malay rebellion against British rule in Perak on 2 November 1875, and at the same time he also produced assortments of pamphlets and booklets on tourism for Pasir Salak and Perak. At the end of 2010, he completed a book written in Malay entitled “Meniti Zaman” (Going Through Eras). Here he describes the beautiful, simple but tough rural life during and after the Japanese occupation. The people of his village endured a harsh rural life, right up to the time when he entered politics in the 1970s. His next acclaimed book, “Mr. Speaker, Sir; From Kampung Boy to the Helm of Parliament” was published in 2012. In it he describes in vivid details the proceedings in Parliament in a manner not done before; the technicalities, the political posturings and the unanswered questions. His latest 530-page book is entitled “The Malays, Pathfinders and Trailblazers” a book describing the past achievements of the Malays which took him 4 years to complete. He also contributed as a writer for the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association magazine.

The Pasir Salak Historical complex, consisting of 42 dioramas carved on wood depicting all the important events in the history of Malaysia and the Malays was built on his instructions in the early 1990s. It is the first of its kind and is certainly very instructive in this aspect of Malaysian history. His stress on bringing in more institutions of higher education to Perak saw him inviting ITM (now UITM-University Teknologi Mara ) to establish their first campus in Perak by giving shop houses belonging to the State Government free of rent. Some years later land was made avlaible in Sri Iskandar, Perak for UITM permanent campus. Among other more notable projects he helped to promote when he was the Chief Minister of Perak were the constructions of Proton City in Tanjung Malim, the biggest car manufacturing facilities in Malaysia, the Lumut Port, introduction of educational facilities like Universiti Sains Malaysia (later taken over by Petronas University), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Tanjung Malim (UPSI), the development of Meru Raya at Ipoh, the Pasir Salak Historical Complex and the development of rural centers and the promotion of industrial centers including those in the rural areas. Among these achievements, he however likes more to be remembered as having eradicated hardcore poverty in Perak in 1996.

His sporting activities varied from badminton, football, hiking, trekking, jetski, donwhill skiing, playing polo and flying ultra-light planes and small aircraft. He has a license to fly both types of aircraft which he had obtained in 2002. He is also the President of the Perak Aero Club and the President of Malaysia Chess Federation since 2007. He was President of Perak Football Association which saw Perak winning the first Malaysia cup. In 2007 while still a Speaker of Malaysian Parliament, he took time off to climb Malaysian Peninsula’s highest mountain, Gunung Tahan. Other areas where he partake, are mountain trekking in Norway, Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Oman.

In 1986, he was awarded the title Dato' Seri Maharaja Lela Mangkubumi by a panel of Acheh’s customary chiefs for promoting good relations between Acheh and Perak. In 1996 he was awarded the Honorary Doctor of Laws LL.D. (Hon.) by the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom for promoting closer relation between Perak and Sheffield University and also for promoting cooperation in the joint establishment of the Perak Medical College in Ipoh with Sheffield University.

In politics, among other posts he was the Chairman of Perak UMNO Liaison Committee from 1984-2000 and a member of the UMNO Supreme Council from 1980-2006. In 2014 he was appointed as the Pro-Chancellor of the University of Malaya. He is also a permanent member of Dewan Negara Perak (Privy Council Perak) and a holder of the title Orang Kaya-Kaya Seri Agar Diraja (Dato’ Sagor), which he inherited from his great great grandfather Dato’ Sagor.

For his services he was awarded SPSA (Dato’ Seri DiRaja) by the Sultan of Perak and PSM (Tan Sri) by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. He was also awarded the J.P (Justice of the Peace), the SPCM (Dato' Seri) by the Sultan of Perak and a holder of Paul Harris Fellowship.

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
1999	P070 Pasir Salak, Perak		Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)	16,792	58.84%		Osman Abdul Rahman (KeADILan)	11,747	41.16%	29,649	5,045	68.58%
2004	P073 Pasir Salak, Perak		Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)	19,422	64.11%		Muhaimin Sulam (PAS)	10,875	35.89%	31,310	8,547	72.88%

Perak State Legislative Assembly

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
1978	N35 Kampong Gajah		Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)
1982			Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)
1986	N38 Kampong Gajah		Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)	9,538	78.44%		Mokhtar Ngah Ibrahim (PAS)	1,950	16.04%	12,159	7,588	66.27%
1990			Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)	11,579	82.28%		Arifen Esa (S46)	1,792	12.73%	14,073	9,787	70.87%
1995	N43 Kampong Gajah		Ramli Ngah Talib (UMNO)	11,718	84.03%		Ahmad Mustafa Abdullah (S46)	1,598	11.46%	13,945	10,120	64.62%

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

• Malaysia :
  • Member of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (AMN) (1980)
  • Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (1989)
• Perak :
  • Commander of the Order of Cura Si Manja Kini (PCM) (1982)
  • Knight Grand Commander of the Order of Cura Si Manja Kini (SPCM) – Dato' Seri (1984)
  • Justice of the Peace (JP) (1986)
  • Ordinary Class of the Perak Family Order of Sultan Azlan Shah (SPSA) – Dato' Seri DiRaja (2000)