List of Malaysian Leaders of the Opposition

Leader of the Opposition of Malaysia
Incumbent Wan Azizah Wan Ismail since 18 May 2015
Style	Yang Berhormat (The Honourable) As a member of the Dewan Rakyat
Member of	Parliament
Term length	While leader of the largest coalition not in government
Inaugural holder	Tan Chee Khoon
Formation	21 March 1964 (1964-03-21)
Salary	MYR 10,358.18 monthly (6508.59 MP's salary + 3849.59 allowance)

The Opposition in Malaysia is the group of political parties represented in the Parliament of Malaysia that are not in government either on their own or as part of a governing coalition. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration, majority party or coalition in parliament or the cabinet, rather than the state.

The title Official Opposition, used in most of the other member nations of the Commonwealth of Nations to designate the political party not in government with the largest number of parliamentary seats, is rarely used in Malaysia. It is common practice to refer to such a party simply as the Opposition, or by the party name.

Theoretically, according to the system of Westminster Democracy upon which the Malaysian political system is loosely based, the Opposition is seen as the alternative government and prepared to assume office should the incumbent government be defeated at a general election. Due to the domination of the Barisan Nasional (and its predecessor, the Alliance) coalition of the parliament since independence, this perception is generally not acknowledged and recognized by Malaysians, though since the 2008 elections, Anwar Ibrahim has declared that the Opposition is the "government in waiting".

In the recent general election (13th Malaysian General Election), the still unregistered Pakatan Rakyat received the highest total number of votes but due to Malaysia's First Past The Post voting system—used in Canada, UK, and most states in the United States—lost to the Barisan Nasional, which won 133 of the 222 Parliament seats and 275 of the 505 State seats. To this day, PKR, DAP, and PAS continue to platform different ideologies within the framework of respect and consensus by their top leaders. Even though Pakatan Rakyat has yet to win the election, most of the industrial, developing cities and ports such as Ipoh, Klang, Kuala Lumpur (capital city), Petaling Jaya, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu are under the administration of the opposition, meaning the coalition controls the states' economy.

Leader of the Opposition

As in nearly every parliamentary democracy around the world, the Leader of the Opposition comes from the largest minority political party or coalition of parties with seats not yet in government. The Leader of the Opposition is often seen as a Prime Minister-in-waiting.

List of Leaders of the Opposition

Following the resignation of Wan Azizah Wan Ismail of the People's Justice Party (PKR) on 31 July 2008, and Anwar Ibrahim's victory in Permatang Pauh on 26 August 2008, Anwar was declared the Leader of the Opposition. Together with Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), they form Pakatan Rakyat.

The position of the Leader of the Opposition has generally been filled by members of PAS or the DAP, but on two occasions has included the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) in a joint leadership with the DAP and, more recently, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

The list of Leaders of the Opposition include:

GE Term	№	Name Constituency (Birth–Death)	Portrait	Took office	Left office	Party	Coalition	Seats	Popularity
01	style="background:Template:Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party/meta/color; color:white;" |—	Burhanuddin al-Helmy MP for Besut (1911–1969) Unofficial	File:BurhanuddinHilmi.png	19 August 1959	1 March 1964	PAS	—	13/104	21.3%
02	style="background:Template:Labour Party of Malaya/meta/color; color:white;" |1	Tan Chee Khoon MP for Batu (1919–1996)		21 March 1964	20 March 1969	LPM	SF	15/159	40.8%
03	Vacant (20 March 1969 — 1971)
	style="background:Template:Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party/meta/color; color:white;" |2	Mohamed Asri Muda MP for Pasir Puteh (1923–1992)		23 February 1971	17 April 1973	PAS	—	12/144	20.9%
	style="background:Template:Democratic Action Party/meta/color; color:white;" |3	Lim Kit Siang MP for Kota Melaka (born 1941)		17 April 1973	31 July 1974	DAP	—	13/144	12.1%
04	style="background:Template:Sarawak National Party/meta/color; color:white;" |4	James Wong MP for Miri-Lubis (1922–2011)		24 August 1974	30 October 1974	SNAP	—	9/154	5.6%
	style="background:Template:Sarawak National Party/meta/color; color:white;" |5	Edmund Langgu Saga MP for Saratok (born 1936)		30 October 1974	5 November 1975	SNAP	—
	rowspan="6" style="background:Template:Democratic Action Party/meta/color; color:white;" |(3)	Lim Kit Siang MP for Kota Melaka (1975-1978; 1982-1986) Petaling Jaya (1978–1982) Tanjong (1986–1999) (born 1941)		5 November 1975	8 July 1978	DAP	—	9/154	18.3%
05	12 June 1978			29 March 1982	16/154			19.1%
06	22 April 1982			19 July 1986	9/154			19.6%
07	3 August 1986			4 October 1990	24/177			21.0%
08	21 October 1990			6 April 1995	20/180			17.13%
09	25 April 1995			10 November 1999	9/192			12.0%
10	style="background:Template:Barisan Alternatif/meta/color; color:white;" |6	Fadzil Noor MP for Pendang (1937–2002)		29 November 1999	23 July 2002	PAS	BA	42/192	40.23%
	style="background:Template:Barisan Alternatif/meta/color; color:white;" |7	Abdul Hadi Awang MP for Marang (born 1947)	File:Tuan Guru Dato' Seri Haji Abdul Hadi Awang.jpg	23 July 2002	2 March 2004	PAS	BA
11	style="background:Template:Democratic Action Party/meta/color; color:white;" |(3)	Lim Kit Siang MP for Ipoh Timur (born 1941)		21 March 2004	13 February 2008	DAP	—	12/219	9.9%
12	style="background:Template:Pakatan Rakyat/meta/color; color:white;" |8	Wan Azizah Wan Ismail MP for Permatang Pauh (born 1952)		8 March 2008	28 August 2008	PKR	PR	82/222	46.75%
	rowspan="2" style="background:Template:Pakatan Rakyat/meta/color; color:white;" |9	Anwar Ibrahim MP for Permatang Pauh (born 1947)		28 August 2008	3 April 2013	PKR	PR
13	6 May 2013			16 March 2015	89/222			50.87%
	style="background:Template:Pakatan Rakyat/meta/color; color:white;" |(8)	Wan Azizah Wan Ismail MP for Permatang Pauh (born 1952)		18 May 2015		Incumbent	PKR		PR

See also

• Parliamentary opposition
• Loyal opposition
• Barisan Alternatif and Pakatan Rakyat
• List of political parties in Malaysia
• Dewan Rakyat