Azman Ibrahim (politician)

Azman bin Ibrahim is a Malaysian politician who has served as Member of the Terengganu State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) state administration under Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, Member of the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Jabi since May 2018 and Chairman of the National Kenaf and Tobacco Board since 2020. He is a member of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), a component party of the PN coalition.

Political career

Member of the Terengganu State Legislative Assembly (since 2018)

In the 2008 Terengganu state election, Azman made his electoral debut after being nominated by PAS to contest for the Jabi state seat. He lost to Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate by a minority of 804 votes.

In the 2013 Terengganu state election, Azman was renominated to contest for the Jabi seat. He again lost to BN candidate by a minority of 782 votes.

In the 2018 Terengganu state election, Azman was renominated by PAS to contest for the Jabi seat. He finally won the seat and was elected as the Jabi MLA for the first term after narrowly defeating defending MLA Mohd Iskandar Jaafar of BN and candidate of Pakatan Harapan (PH) by a majority of only 55 votes.

Member of the Terengganu State Executive Council (since 2018)

On 10 May 2018 after PAS took over the state administration from BN after PAS defeated BN in the 2018 state election, Azman was appointed as Terengganu EXCO Member in charge of Agriculture, Agro-based Industry and Rural Development by Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri.

Controversies

Sexist remarks against women

On 7 February 2023, Azman used an analogy to liken women to an item, leading him to criticisms by Malaysian netizens. Former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Musa Hassan refuted that "It doesn't matter how one should dress. It is the duty of the police to receive reports in whatever situation.", while rage among netizens soar. However, Azman justified his claim and refused to apologise.

Racist remarks against Malaysian Chinese

In January 2023, Azman made a "sarcastic" remark by referring the stabilisation of pork prices as "fate of the Chinese people". Netizens criticised Azman by describing that as a racist remark against Chinese minority as non-Muslims in the nation consume pork. In February 2023, after authorities were called to investigate the illegal and controversial "jihad march" organised by PAS in earlier February 2023, Azman defended the actions of his party comrades and compatriots by tweeting a picture of a Chinese immigrant working as a coachman for Malays with the description "Once upon a time in my homeland...", hinting that the Chinese people should not be treated as equal as Malays are. This led him to huge criticised not only by Malay and Chinese netizens, but also from the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of the BN coalition. Some slammed Azman for "insinuating the low status of Chinese in the past", while some believed that PAS was trying to incite hatred against ethnic minorities in the nation.

Election results

Honours

• Terengganu :
  • Member of the Order of Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu (AMZ) (2019)