Zairil Khir Johari
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Yang Berhormat Zairil Khir Johari MP |
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| Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Bukit Bendera, Penang |
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Assumed office 6 May 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Liew Chin Tong |
| Assistant Publicity Secretary Democratic Action Party | |
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Assumed office September 2013 |
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| Executive Director of Penang Institute | |
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Assumed office March 2014 |
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| Preceded by | Woo Wing Thye |
| CEO of Penang Institute | |
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In office March 2012 – March 2014 |
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| Succeeded by | Lim Kim-Hwa |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Zairil Khir Johari 17 October 1982 |
| Citizenship | Malay |
| Political party | DAP – Pakatan Harapan |
| Spouse(s) | Dahlia Hamzah |
| Relations | stepson of Khir Johari |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater |
University of London Multimedia University |
| Occupation | Politician CEO, Penang Institute |
| Religion | Islam |
| Website | zairil.com |
Zairil Khir Johari (born 17 October 1982) is a Malaysian politician. Since 2013, he has been the Member of Parliament for the seat of Bukit Bendera, Penang. He is a member of the opposition Democratic Action Party. He is the stepson of Khir Johari, a former Cabinet minister. In 2015, he was appointed the DAP Parliamentary Spokesperson for Education, Science and Technology.
Zairil is the stepson of Khir Johari, a senior minister in early Malaysian governments and Member of Parliament from 1955 to 1982.
Zairil attended the Multimedia University in Cyberjaya, graduating with a bachelor's degree in Information Systems Engineering. He then received a Master of Arts from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Upon his return to Malaysia, Zairil started RND Chocolate Labs, where he was the chief executive officer.
In late 2010, he left business to pursue politics full-time.
In 2010, Zairil joined the DAP, a leading party in opposition to the UMNO-led national government. The choice—given that his stepfather was a prominent UMNO politician and that he would be a rare Malay member of the DAP—attracted significant attention. Zairil claimed upon joining the DAP that UMNO had changed for the worse since his stepfather was a politician, and that "after more than 50 years of [UMNO] rule, the situation is such that people are being colonised, oppressed by our own people, we do not have any freedom." He was appointed Political Secretary to DAP Secretary-General Lim Guan Eng on 23 February 2011.
At the DAP National Congress in December 2012, Zairil was elected to the Central Executive Committee (CEC) and appointed as the Assistant National Publicity Secretary. The election was re-run in 2013, after a tabulation error that had resulted in his exclusion. He was successful the second time around.
In 2013, Zairil was elected into the DAP Penang State Committee and subsequently appointed Vice-Chairman. In the 2015 state party convention, he was reelected into the committee, placing third highest out of the fifteen elected members with a total vote of 490 out of 760 delegates. He was reappointed Vice-Chairman.
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