Zulhasnan Rafique

Zulhasnan bin Rafique (Jawi: ذوالحسنان بن رفيق; born 20 September 1954) is a Malaysian politician and the former Minister of Federal Territories. He is a former Member of Parliament of Malaysia for Wangsa Maju and Setiawangsa constituencies in Kuala Lumpur and a supreme council member in the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest component party of the previously ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN).

Life
Zulhasnan joined the Royal Malaysian Air Force as a fighter pilot and retired in 1985 with the rank of Major (squadron leader in other countries) before entering politics.

Politics
Zulhasnan debuted in the 1999 Malaysian general election and won the Wangsa Maju seat to be elected as a Member of Parliament. In the 2004 general election, he contested and won the Setiawangsa parliamentary seat. On 27 March 2004, following a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Federal Territory and Klang Valley Planning and Development Division was upgraded to a full-fledged ministry. Its responsibility expanded to include jurisdiction over the territories of Labuan and Putrajaya. Zulhasnan was the first deputy minister to be appointed to the ministry.

Mohd Isa Abdul Samad was the first minister to be appointed. However, Isa was dismissed from office after he was found guilty of corruption charges related to money politics during the UMNO General Assembly Election of 2005. Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (then the Minister for Women, Family and Community Development) assumed the responsibilities of acting minister until a replacement could be found.

On 16 February 2006, Zulhasnan was appointed Federal Territories Minister. Under the leadership of Zulhasnan, a strategic plan that focused on development plans for all three Federal Territories was created. In the 2008 election, he was reelected again as a Member of Parliament. He was dropped from the new cabinet on 9 April 2009 by Najib Razak who took over as the 6th Prime Minister. He was not chosen by Barisan Nasional to recontest the Setiawangsa seat in the 2013 election.

He was appointed as the Malaysian Ambassador to the United States, replacing Awang Adek Hussin in December 2016. But resigned in April 2018 to contest in the 2018 election the Setiawangsa constituency again. Following the huge swing of votes to the coalition Pakatan Harapan, he lost and failed to win back his former parliamentary seat.

Honours of Malaysia

 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia:
 * MY Darjah Yang Mulia Pangkuan Negara (Defender of the Realm) - SMN.svg Member of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (AMN) (1982)
 * Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - PSM.svg Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (2013)
 * Pahang:
 * MY-PAH Order of the Crown of Pahang - Knight Companion - DIMP.svg Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (DIMP) – Dato' (1998)
 * MY-PAH Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang - Grand Knight - SSAP.svg Grand Knight of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (SSAP) – Dato' Sri (2007)
 * Penang:
 * MY-PEN Order of the Defender of State - Commander - DGPN.svg Commander of the Order of the Defender of State (DGPN) – Dato' Seri (2007)
 * Federal Territory (Malaysia):
 * MY-FED Darjah Mahkota Wilayah - Grand Knight - SUMW.svg Grand Knight of the Order of the Territorial Crown (SUMW) – Datuk Seri Utama (2015)