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Zairil Khir Johari (born on October 17, 1982) is a Malaysian politician who has entered his country’s political arena with the slogan “Malaysia for Malaysians”. He traces his political lineage to his father, a well-known freedom fighter and former Education Minister of Malaysia, the late Tan Sri Md Khir Johari.

Zairil is currently an elected Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera and a member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of one of the principal opposition parties of Malaysia, the Democratic Action Party (DAP). The committee has 29 other members, 20 of whom are elected, while the rest are appointed. Prior to becoming a career politician, for two years starting 2008, Zairil was the CEO and founder of RND Chocolate Labs, a Malaysian company located in Subang Jaya, the suburban city of Selangor. The company makes “made to order” chocolates.

Often dubbed as “the thinking politician” by the media, Zairil is a well-known speaker in Malaysia’s intellectual and social circuits. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Penang Institute, a think tank of the Penang state government. He also serves on the board of directors of PDC Consultancy, a subsidiary of the state economic development corporation, Penang Development Corporation (PDC).

Zairil is also an avid writer and is a columnist for The Malaysian Insider. He also has his own blog, and works the social networks with his Facebook and Twitter accounts. In his free time, he loves to read and watch movies and is a self-confessed foodie.

Early life, education and career
Zairil is the son of Malaysian politician Tan Sri Md Khir Johari and his wife Puan Sri Christine. The latter was one of the leaders instrumental in the setting up of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which today is Malaysia’s largest political party, and part of the multi-party coalition government. Tan Sri Khir’s public life spanned over five decades starting in 1946 as the SABERKAS Honorary Secretary and a stint as the UMNO Secretary-General in 1954. In 1955, he contested in the first federal elections and won the Central Kedah constituency. He was subsequently re-elected four more times. Besides party posts, Tan Sri Khir held several ministerial portfolios like Minister of Trade and Industry, Education Minister and Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives. As the Minister of Education in 1957, he was responsible for implementing the all-important Education Ordinance 1957, that ushered in major changes to Malaysia’s education sector. Tan Sri Khir’s contribution to Malaysian sports is well recorded. Tan Sri Khir was awarded several honours, citations and medals to honour his contributions and services to the country and society, including the Panglima Mangku Negara (PMN) medal in 1986, which carries the title Tan Sri, and the honorific title of Dato’ Paduka Mahkota Selangor (D.P.M.S.) Medal which carries the title Dato'.

Politically, Zairil claims to have not only been influenced by the political life of Tan Sri Khir Johari but also the latter’s mentor, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj ibni Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, who was Malaysia’s first Prime Minister. The latter and Tan Sri Khir were close friends for 48 years. Zairil is a graduate of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he received his Master of Arts in International Studies and Diplomacy, graduating with merit. Prior to that, he attended the Multimedia University in Cyberjaya, a town that’s a key part of Malaysia’s multimedia super corridor. He graduated from here with a Bachelor of IT (Hons) in Information Systems Engineering.

While pursuing his studies in London, Zairil was exposed to human rights and democracy issues around the world, studying the post-Cold War era, the Sept 11 tragedy and American imperialism, which further piqued his interest in social and political developments. Upon his return to Malaysia, Zairil started RND Chocolate Labs, where he was the CEO, or Chocolate Eating Officer, as he would often describe his title.

In late 2010, influenced by his political legacy and the prevailing political situation in Malaysia, he left business to pursue politics, full-time.

Entry into politics
In 2010, Zairil joined the DAP, a party founded in 1966, and was appointed Political Secretary to DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng on February 23, 2011. At the DAP National Congress in December 2012, Zairil was elected into the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and appointed as the Assistant National Publicity Secretary. He is also the youngest member of the current CEC. In one of his very first interviews on joining mainstream politics to the online news portal The Rocket, and soon after he was appointed Lim Guan Eng’s Political Secretary, Zairil had explained why he had turned to politics. “I have always been interested in politics. When I was younger, it was just a general interest but I was always aware of what was going on in the country. I found politicians fascinating because their decisions affect everyone else. “As my father (the late Tan Sri Khir, former Education Minister who served under three Prime Ministers) was a politician for many years, that gave me a background that furthered my interest because I had a lot of exposure to politics. I listened in on many of the political conversations my father had with his friends.”

DAP
Zairil’s decision to join the DAP and not his father’s political party, the UMNO, was one that was debated to an extent in Malaysian society.

The DAP, founded on March 18, 1966, has the Rocket as its party symbol. It has contested in 10 general elections from 1969 to 2008. Although perceived for a long time as a party representing the interests of Malaysia’s ethnic Chinese population, DAP has sought to contest this public image by advocating nation-building through the integration of all citizens as part of its political agenda.

For the 1999 general election, DAP teamed up with Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), Parti Keadilan Nasional (Keadilan) and Parti Rakyat Malaysia (PRM) to form the Barisan Alternatif (BA) in contest against the ruling political alliance of Barisan Nasional (BN), on a political platform of fighting against the BN’s political arrogance, undemocratic rule and repression of the fundamental rights of Malaysians. Two years later, the DAP pulled out of the alliance following the insistence of PAS in forming an Islamic State – which the DAP claimed was incompatible with the pluralistic nature of the Malaysian nation.

With his “all-inclusive” political line of thought, Zairil said he had found common ground with the cause of the DAP. The young leader himself gave the following reasons why he chose to do so, in the interview to The Rocket:
 * 1) Acting on advice given by friends of his father to assess the ground situation for himself, Zairil said he had interacted and spent time with many members of various political parties.
 * 2) During this time he came in contact and developed a close friendship with Liew Chin Tong, Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera.
 * 3) He realised that the leadership of the DAP was very exemplary, particularly in terms of how it administered the Penang State.
 * 4) Once a comfort level was established, he had decided to join the DAP.
 * 5) He chose the DAP over UMNO because the former shared “common goals” with what the late Khir had looked for in the “old” Umno.

On Zairil’s appointment as his Political Secretary, the DAP Secretary-General who is also the Penang Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng, had told journalists at a press conference that Zairil’s appointment had been based on his attributes and qualifications and not on his race.

“The fact that Zairil is a Malay”, Lim said, “was purely coincidence. It is not because he is a Malay but because he is a learned individual. He can probably even teach me things that I do not know.”

CEC member
The CEC election held in December 2012 was marred by a technical computing glitch. The results announced on December 15, 2012 had showed another DAP candidate, Vincent Wu Him Wen, as elected to the CEC. The DAP had then held a press conference on January 3, 2013 and announced an error in the tabulation of votes, confirming that Zairil was the candidate who had really got more votes to confirm him as a CEC member. The returning officer who had supervised the tabulation of the results, Pooi Weng Keong, subsequently resigned.

Political views
Since the start of his political career, Zairil has been emphasising on two macro issues – the establishment of a distinctive Malaysian identity, delinked from racial individuality through a more inclusive political system; and the need to decentralise governance in Malaysia with a dual purpose – clean, transparent governance, and the empowerment of citizens.

“Clearly, power (both legal and fiscal) needs to be rationally dispersed, not only within Putrajaya but more importantly to the state and local levels where (ever) appropriate. Legal, political, fiscal and administrative decentralisation is needed to ensure operational efficiency as well as to prevent the dangerous concentration of power at the centre.

“At the same time, decentralisation will also better fulfil the democratic rights of the people by empowering their state and local authorities,” he wrote in an opinion piece for The Malaysian Insider.

Zairil’s thrust is on moving away from race-based politics, establishing a two-party system, accountability and transparency in governance, and affirmative action for those with needs regardless of skin colour.

He has always publicly advocated affirmative action based on economic background and geographical location, not based on race.

Malaysia for Malaysians
In most of his public speeches, debates, and media interviews, Zairil has always been a votary of a pluralistic, outward-looking Malaysian society.

He consistently opposed the segregation of the Malaysian population into broad racial categories such as Malays and non-Malays. In line with these thoughts, he has consistently asserted that he is a Malaysian, first and foremost. According to a news report in The Rocket, he was quoted as saying, he “firmly believes that there is such a thing as Bangsa Malaysia.”

In the same report, Zairil has clarified that though Bangsa Malaysia was not to be confused with a race in the literal sense, it was to give a sense of cultural identity, a sense of belonging to be shared by all the citizens of Malaysia, irrespective of their race, caste, creed or religion.

“Why do I need to be identified by my ancestors’ race? I’m Malaysian,” questioned Zairil.

Political agenda
Zairil’s political agenda so far has been two-pronged: national and state issues. He has been advocating and pressing for reforms in the education, law, and political sectors, while at the same time, calling for, and seeking solutions in the urban planning, housing and industrial scenario of the State of Penang, Malaysia’s second smallest state after Perlis. Penang is made up of two parts: Penang island, the headquarters of the State Government, and Seberang Perai.

On Malaysia’s existing education system, Zairil has said there was a need to de-politicise it and implement measures to bring it on par with international levels.

He has been quoted as saying the Education Department has to be a separate entity from the Education Ministry, because of the politics involved when the department is answerable to a minister.

Zairil has been advocating the setting up of a separate panel to monitor the department, made up of all interested parties in the field of education, including ministry officials.

Zairil has championed the cause of civil liberty in Malaysian society. On the law front, the youth leader has been urging for changes in the country’s legal framework and jurisprudence.

He has been an active protester against the newly-repealed Internal Security Act (ISA), the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), the Universities and University Colleges Act (UUCA) which prohibits students from being politically active, and the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, that bans “assemblies in motion” and empowers the police to control the content and conduct of public meetings.

Penang issues
On Penang-related issues, Zairil, who spent much of his childhood there, has written in an opinion piece, “As Penang strives to become an internationally competitive city, it is imperative that we transform the incoherent urban form that we have inherited into one that works. In other words, we need to create a sustainable city that is able to connect people, via efficient public infrastructure, to homes, amenities, centres of employment and trade.”

On housing issues, he has said there was a mismatch between supply and demand, and hence the need for some radical reforms in this sector. “Though the housing problems in Penang may appear to be peculiar to the state, the truth is that its underlying factors are similar throughout the country. Thus, what is required not only for Penang, but also for the rest of Malaysia, is a total rethink of our outdated and unsustainable housing and planning policies at both state and federal levels,” he wrote in this opinion piece in the Malaysian Insider.

Penang Institute
As the CEO of the Penang Institute, a well-known public policy think tank to the State Government of Penang, Zairil has been in the forefront of coordinating most of its major activities in propagating the cause of Penang on the national and international arenas, and providing realistic solutions for the economic and social sustenance of the people of the Penang region

Formerly known as Socio-Economic and Environmental Research Institute (SERI), the Institute is an independent, non-profit research institute with a focus on facilitating sustainable, continuous and balanced development for the state of Penang. Over time, the Institute has established itself as one of Malaysia’s leading independent think tank, regularly consulted by the government, local and international NGOs on a diverse range of issues from education and sustainability to economics and human resource issues. The Penang Institute has several activities to its name.

It recently held a series of roundtable conferences on decentralisation of governance in the context of Malaysia. This series of roundtables was an attempt to understand the “why” and “how” of decentralisation. The series explored various approaches in adopting and implementing decentralisation, from a historical perspective and its implication to Malaysia today.

The Institute also regularly hosts the Penang in Asia lecture series, a lectureship awarded under the patronage of His Excellency the Governor of Penang, that brings together renowned scholars, public intellectuals and thinkers from diverse fields to Penang to speak about issues relevant to cultural, intellectual and economic development of Penang as an historical and future growth centre in Asia.

Those who have delivered lectures as part of the Penang in Asia lecture series include Nobel Laureate Professor Sir James Alexander Mirrlees, contemporary Islamic intellectual Professor Tariq Ramadan, and the world-renowned economist and sustainable development champion Professor Jeffrey D. Sachs.

Under Zairil’s leadership, the Institute also started the ASEAN Coalition for Clean Governance (ACCG). The inaugural conference was held in June 2012, attracting participants from seven countries around the region. The conference featured various leaders including former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, former head of the Indonesian Audit Board Dr Anwar Nasution and chairperson of Malaysian electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasen.

In December 2012, the second ACCG Leaders’ Lecture was held, featuring former Indonesian President Dr Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie. Habibie, who was president between 1998 and 1999 immediately following the fall of Suharto, is widely credited as having played a pivotal role in engineering the birth of democracy in Indonesia.

Member of Parliament for Bukit Bendera
During the 13th General Elections of Malaysia, Zairil won the Bukit Bendera parliamentary seat polling 45,591 votes defeating Barisan National candidate with 32,778 majority. One of the highest majorities won during the elections. He is also one of the youngest candidates to win a Parliamentary seat during the elections.

Family life and hobbies
Zairil is married and has one daughter and one son. In his free time, he likes to read, cook, and watch movies, and is a self-confessed foodie.