Noraini Ahmad
Datuk Seri Dr. Noraini binti Ahmad is a Malaysian politician who has served as Minister of Plantation and Commodities in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since December 2025 and the Member of Parliament for Parit Sulong since March 2008. She served as the Deputy Minister of Women, Family and Community Development in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar and Minister Nancy Shukri from December 2023 to her re-promotion in December 2025, Minister of Higher Education for the second term under the Barisan Nasional administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob from August 2021 to the collapse of BN administration in November 2022 and the first term in the Perikatan Nasional administration under former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin from March 2020 to her resignation in August 2021. She is a member of the United Malays National Organisation, a component party of the BN coalition. She has also served as the 10th Women Chief of UMNO since June 2018, 2nd Women Youth Chief of UMNO from 2004 to 2009 and 1st Deputy Women Youth Chief from 2001 to her promotion to Women Youth Chief in 2004. She is formerly a Chairperson of the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority from March 2023 to January 2024. She is also the first PAC Chairwoman in Malaysian history. Her appointment as a Deputy Minister in the [2023 Malaysians|Malaysian cabinet reshuffle|2023 cabinet reshuffle] is a rare occurrence in Malaysian politics since she was a former federal minister in the Muhyiddin cabinet and Ismail Sabri cabinet. She is one of the three deputy ministers who were previously a federal minister alongside Shamsul Anuar Nasarah and M. Kulasegaran.
Early life and education
She is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada where she obtained her Bachelor of Commerce in 1991, followed by a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak in 2005. She subsequently obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Development Management from Universiti Utara Malaysia in 2016. She then enrolled into the Doctor of Business Administration programme at Asia e-University. The title of her DBA dissertation is "The Phenomenological Study of Women Entrepreneurs and their Impact on Socio-Economic Growth in Malaysia". She will be one of the first Malaysians to complete the DBA in AeU via the APEL Q system. She completed her viva on 11 November 2021 and received positive feedback on her dissertation from examiners who requested no further amendments/corrections upon submission. She completed her second PhD in April 2022.Political career
Noraini was first elected to federal Parliament in the 2008 general election, replacing incumbent Syed Hood Syed Edros. Immediately after the election, she was named Deputy Minister of Human Resources in the government of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and served under the post until Abdullah's successor Najib Razak named his first cabinet in April 2009.In the 2013 general election, Noraini won re-election to Parliament and was then appointed by the government as the Chairperson of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation. In the 2018 general election, she was re-elected once again albeit with a decreased majority.
Noraini was also the chairman of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians from 2016 to 2019. The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians is a network of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association that campaigns for gender equality and equal representation in Parliaments. On the international fora she became the first Malaysian to be elected as chairman of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians from 2016 to 2019. She was elected through voting at the 62nd Commonwealth Parliamentarians' Conference in London, United Kingdom. She garnered 53 votes beating Joyce Watson of Wales who received 15 votes, Poto Williams of New Zealand and Linda Reid from Canada who received 9 votes.
Honours
Honours of Malaysia
- * Recipient of the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Installation Medal
- * Grand Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca – Datuk Seri
- * Companion Class I of the Exalted Order of Malacca – Datuk
- * Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang – '''Dato''''
Honorary degrees
- * Honorary Ph.D. degree in Management and Leadership from Indonesian Muslim University
Others
21st Century Partnership Program from Japanese Government - New Zealand's Prime Minister ASEAN Fellowship - Chosen as 1990s' 10 People 10 Decades University of Saskatchewan -- ''Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, United Kingdom through the AeU–CMI partnership, in recognition of her leadership and contributions in strategic management - ''