Raja Kamarul Bahrin

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Yanga Mulia Dato' Raja Kamarul Bahrin DPMT
راج قمر البحرين بن راج احمد
Chairman of Pakatan Harapan for Terengganu
Incumbent
Assumed office 30 August 2017
Preceded by	Himself
Ministerial roles
2018–2020	Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government
Faction represented in Dewan Rakyat
2013–2015	Malaysian Islamic Party
2015–2018	National Trust Party
Faction represented in Dewan Negara
2018–2021	Pakatan Harapan
Personal details
Born	Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah bin Raja Ahmad (1955-01-14) 14 January 1955 Istana Maziah, Kuala Terengganu, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Citizenship	Malaysian
Political party	Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) (2013–2015) National Trust Party (AMANAH) (since 2015)
Other political affiliations	Pakatan Rakyat (PR) (2013–2015) Pakatan Harapan (PH) (since 2015)
Alma mater	University of Melbourne
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Architect
Raja Kamarul Bahrin on Facebook Template:Pom

Dato' Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah bin Raja Ahmad (Jawi: راج قمر البحرين شاه بن راج احمد born 14 January 1955) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020. He has served as Senator since July 2018. He also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kuala Terengganu from May 2013 to May 2018. He is a member and State Chairman of Terengganu of the National Trust Party (AMANAH) and its coalition PH which is in opposition.

He also served as Chairman of the Hotel Association (MAH) and member of the Badan Warisan Malaysia. He was also one of the leader of Angkatan Amanah Merdeka, a defunct Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) led by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.

Early life and education

Raja Kamarul Bahrin was born on 14 January 1955 at Istana Maziah, Kuala Terengganu. After getting an early education at Saint John Institute, he returned to Terengganu and attended Sultan Sulaiman Secondary School (appointed as Head of Student in 1974) before pursuing his tertiary education at the University of Melbourne.

Career as architect

Raja Kamarul Bahrin is an architect who is well known for his traditional Malay-based architecture. He is popularly known as the architect of the Tengku Tengah Zaharah Mosque or better known as the Floating Mosque, the Terengganu State Museum (Museum recognised as the largest museum in Asia), Istana Melawati (Putrajaya) and several others.

Politics

Raja Kamarul Bahrin joined the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) after he agreed to the plea by Abdul Hadi Awang, the party Terengganu state Commissioner. He was picked as the party candidate for the Kuala Terengganu federal seat for the 2013 general election on 9 April 2013 and subsequently won. He was committed to representing the voices of professionals who were ignored by the administration of the BN government and hoped his participation in politics would force the authorities to respect the views and professional society opinions more seriously.

On 21 August 2015, he was declared the chairman of the Terengganu's Gerakan Harapan Baru. On 16 September 2015, he left PAS and joined the National Trust Party (AMANAH) after the party was set up.

Personal life

In 1980 Raja Kamarul Bahrin met Jacqueline Pascarl and married her a year later when she was 17 years old. She was an Australian young ballet dancer then and later turned book writer. They had two children.

He then married Singapore artist and had four children.

Controversies and issues

Child dispute with ex-wife

In 1985, two children of Raja Kamarul Bahrin were raised by his ex-wife, Jacqueline Pascarl an Australian citizen. They divorced in 1986. He tried to seek custody of his children for 7 years through the Australian Family Court in 1992. Even Australian judges forbid bringing his children to the Mosque or anywhere 100 meters from the mosque. Jacqueline married another TV journalist, Iain Gillespie in 1990. Jacqueline has produced two books titled 'Once I was a Princess' and 'Since I Was a Princess' (2007).

Finally, Raja Kamarul Bahrin abducted his daughter & son with a fishing boat through Cape York Peninsula, Merauke, Irian Jaya, Sulawesi, Sabah and returned to Kuala Terengganu with the help of Bryan Wickham. Bryan Wickham had planned the land and sea escape route for a year and was consequently charged & sentenced to an Australian jail for a year for his part. The events are all recorded and have been recorded with the title 'Raja Bahrin Story' (1997)

In 2006, Shah visited his mother Jacqueline in Melbourne. Iddin also met his mother in 2006 after 14 years apart.

Collapse of Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium

Raja Kamarul Bahrin is a prominent architect in Malaysia. However, after the collapse of the roof of the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium in Terengganu which was designed by his company Senibahri Arkitek; attracted vast attention of the media and public whereby he was attacked by various parties, especially the opposition. Among their allegations, Raja Bahrin was negligent in designing. Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah Raja Ahmad, as the main architect of the stadium, later appeared to explain that the design and construction of the roof was by a foreign company and he was not involved with it. He had suggested that the authorities issue a full report on the incident so that the people would not wonder who actually was responsible for the incident. A report was made by the Malaysian government, regarding the roof collapse of the stadium. Many parties involved include architects from wholesalers and engineers from the government. The roof of the stadium is very large and 30 meters high and is fitted with air conditioning by a South Korean company. The construction cost is RM292 million and is still in the contractor's warranty.

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia

Year	Constituency			Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
2013	P36 Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu.	rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/PAS |	Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah (PAS)	45,828	55.80%	Template:Party shading/Barisan Nasional |	Mohd Zubir Embong (UMNO)	35,043	42.67%	82,122	10,785	87.00%
		Template:Party shading/Independent |				Maimun Yusuf (IND)	182	0.22%
2018		rowspan=2 Template:Party shading/Keadilan |	Raja Kamarul Bahrin Shah (AMANAH)	15,380	17.76%	Template:Party shading/Barisan Nasional |	Wan Nawawi Wan Ismail (UMNO)	28,215	32.59%	87,786	14,773	84.73%
		Template:Party shading/PAS |				Ahmad Amzad Mohamed @ Hashim (PAS)	42,988	49.65%

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

• Template:Country data Terengganu :
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Terengganu (DPMT) – Dato' (1994)

External links

• Raja Kamarul Bahrin on Facebook
• Template:Pom