Salleh Said Keruak

Datuk Seri Panglima Md Salleh bin Md Said (Jawi: محمد صالح بن محمد سعيد; born 10 July 1958), commonly known as Salleh Said Keruak, is a Malaysian politician who has served as Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly for Usukan from February 1994 to March 2004, from May 2013 to May 2018 and again since September 2020. He served as the Minister of Communications and Multimedia in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Najib Razak from July 2015 to the collapse of the BN administration in May 2018, 9th chief minister of Sabah from December 1994 to May 1996, Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly from December 2010 to July 2015, Senator from July 2015 to July 2018 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Kota Belud from April 1995 to March 2008. He is also the son of Mohammad Said Keruak, the 4th chief minister of Sabah and the 7th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah as well as the cousin of Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis, the Kota Belud MP.

Educational background
He was a bachelor's graduate from Simon Fraser University in political science and holds a PhD in political science and government from Universiti Putra Malaysia.

Career
After finishing his further studies, he was designated as Kota Belud District Officer from 1984 to 1986 and later became a political secretary to the sitting chief minister's administration from 1986 to 1994.

In addition, he also held some positions in the Cabinet of Sabah. For many years, he served as the minister of finance, minister of local government and housing and deputy chief minister.

On 28 December 1994, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad appointed him as the chief minister of the state. His tenure as the state's chief minister ended on 26 May 1996 and was succeeded by Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) president, Yong Teck Lee.

On 4 January 2010, then-chief minister, Musa Aman, appointed him as his government's Science and Technology Adviser with ministerial rank. He succeeded Tham Nyip Shen, a former Deputy Chief Minister for the ethnic Chinese quota who hailed from Keningau.

Later on 31 December of the same year, he was appointed as the Speaker of the State Legislature. A day later, on the first day of 2011, he was appointed as the chairman of Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) by the then-Federal Minister of Information, Communications and Culture, Dr. Rais Yatim.

Under the party of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), he previously served Sabah state liaison committee deputy chairperson from 2006 to 2018, serving under the long-term chairmanship of then-Chief Minister, Musa Aman who was concurrently the state liaison committee chairperson from 2003 to 2018 (but now he currently serves as its elections machinery director since the crucial party elections in 2018).

In addition, he also presides over the United Sabah Bajau Organisation (USBO).

On 6 October 2019, he admitted that he submitted a party membership application to the People’s Justice Party (PKR) as the party is multiracial and it is in line with Salleh's political beliefs, especially focusing on the future of the Malaysian state in East Malaysia, Sabah.

On 30 June 2020, he canceled his application to join PKR in the aftermath of the 2020 political crisis. On 9 September 2020, Salleh rejoined UMNO.

Honours

 * Sabah :
 * MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - PGDK.svg Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (PGDK) – Datuk (1990)
 * MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - SPDK.svg Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (SPDK) – Datuk Seri Panglima (1996)
 * Justice of the Peace (JP) (2014)
 * Malacca :
 * MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca.svg Grand Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DGSM) – Datuk Seri (1996)

Family
He is currently married to Datin Seri Panglima Datuk Raya Erom (born 21 April 1963), an ethnic Kadazandusun woman of Lotud descent from Tuaran, since 18 December 1984. Prior to their marriage, she was a Roman Catholic Christian before converting to Sunni Islam in order to marry Salleh. The couple are blessed with two sons and two daughters: Mohd Syarulnizam (born 1986), Syazeera (born 1988), Mohd Hafeez (born 1996) and Syeera (born 2002).

In addition, Salleh is also the second cousin of Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis.