BARISAN Nasional candidate Ramli Mohd Nor was declared winner of the hard-fought Cameron Highlands by-election on Saturday.
He garnered 12,038 votes to defeat Pakatan Harapan’s M. Manogaran who polled 8,800 votes, and two independent candidates – Sallehudin Ab Talib (314 votes) and Wong Seng Yee (276 votes).
Ramli’s triumph was historic in nature – it made him the first-ever Orang Asli Member of Parliament in Malaysia.
Here are a few interesting facts about him:
He is a Semai-Temiar tribesman
The 61-year-old’s father was a Semai from Cameron Highlands; while his mother was a Temiar from Gua Musang, Kelantan. Ramli was born at an Orang Asli settlement in Gombak, Selangor.
He spent 34 years with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM)
As part of his storied career as a policeman, Ramli held the post of Commercial Crime chief for two states – Negri Sembilan and Penang.
Before his retirement in Oct 2018, Ramli was deputy director at the Bukit Aman Commercial Crimes Investigation Department.
His father was a founding member of a jungle fighting force
Ramli's father, Datuk Mohd Nor Abdullah, was a founding member of the Senoir Praaq – a jungle fighting force which was trained by the British Special Air Service to counter communist insurgency.
He graduated from the University of East London with superlative results
Ramli graduated with first-class honours in Business Studies, before going on to obtain distinction for a Master’s in Public Administration.
Later in life, he pursued a doctorate in Business Studies.
He received training from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
In 2014, Ramli spent three months at the FBI Academy in Quantico, the United States, where he underwent training with 56 other policemen chosen from around the world.
He was taught the latest technologies in investigation.
He is conversant in Mandarin
"I'm not that proficient in Mandarin, but if people speak, I understand.
“I just stutter a little when it comes to responding to them," he once told a Malay-language newspaper.