PUTRAJAYA: Newly-minted Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek arrived at the ministerial building at 8.55am to clock in on her first day in office.
Clad in a blue baju kurung, Fadhlina was greeted by the director-general Datuk Pkharuddin Ghazali, secretary-general Datuk Yusran Shah Mohd Yusof and other ministry officials.
She is scheduled to have a special briefing at the ministry as her first official duty, followed by a meeting with the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the evening.
On Saturday, the Nibong Tebal member of parliament (MP) took her oath as the Education Minister before the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, at Istana Negara.
In the recently concluded General Election (GE15), Fadhlina, 45, won the Nibong Tebal parliament seat after defeating Datuk Mansor Othman from Perikatan Nasional (PN), who was a two-term incumbent MP for the seat.
She polled 42,188 votes to defeat Mansor who garnered 25,895, with a majority of 16,293 votes.
Fadhlina is also a member of Dewan Negara since Sept 21, representing the Penang State Assembly.
She began her political career in 2020 upon joining Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), where she was appointed the party's Women's Legal and Community Development Bureau chairman.
She was then appointed as the PKR Women chief this year.
The lawyer and activist also specialises in syarie law, legal literacy in Islamic family law, as well as child protection and safety.