Noraini binti Ahmad (Jawi: نورعيني بنت أحمد; born 7 November 1967) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Chairperson of the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA) since March 2023 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Parit Sulong since March 2008. She served as the Minister of Higher Education for the second term under the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob from August 2021 to the collapse of BN administration in November 2022, the first term in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration under former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin from March 2020 to her resignation in August 2021, the Deputy Minister of Human Resources in the BN administration under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak and former Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam from March 2008 to April 2009 and Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration from April 2019 to her ministerial appointment in March 2020, Honorary Secretary of the Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association (CPA) of Malaysia since 2018, Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarian (CWP) and Member of the Committee of Commonwealth Parliamentarian Association from 2017 to 2019, Chairperson of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) from 2013 to 2018, General Manager of the Padiberas Nasional Berhad (BERNAS) from 1998 to 2003 and led several federal agencies, including the Malaysian Network Information Centre and Astronautic Technology. She is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition. She has also served as the 10th Women Chief of UMNO since June 2018 and 2nd Women Youth Chief of UMNO from 2004 to 2009 and 1st Deputy Women Youth Chief from 2001 to her promotion to women youth chief in 2004. She is also the first female PAC chairperson in Malaysian history.
Early life and education
She is a graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada where she obtained her Bachelor of Commerce (double major in quantitative analysis and finance) in 1991, followed by a master's degree in business administration (MBA) from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNIRAZAK) in 2005. She subsequently obtained her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Development Management from Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) in 2016. She then enrolled into the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program at Asia e-University (AeU). The title of her DBA dissertation is “The Phenomenological Study of Women Entrepreneurs and their Impact on Socio-Economic Growth in Malaysia”. She will be one of the first Malaysians to complete the DBA in AeU via the APEL Q system. She completed her viva on 11 November 2021 and received positive feedback on her dissertation from examiners who requested no further amendments/corrections upon submission. She completed her second PhD in April 2022.
Political career
Noraini was first elected to federal Parliament in the 2008 general election, replacing incumbent Syed Hood Syed Edros. Immediately after the election, she was named Deputy Minister of Human Resources in the government of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and served under the post until Abdullah's successor Najib Razak named his first cabinet in April 2009.
In the 2013 general election, Noraini won re-election to Parliament and was then appointed by the government as the chairperson of the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade). In the 2018 general election, she was re-elected once again albeit with a decreased majority.
Noraini was also the chairman of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians from 2016 to 2019. The Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) is a network of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association that campaigns for gender equality and equal representation in Parliaments. On the international fora she became the first Malaysian to be elected as chairman of Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians (CWP) from 2016 to 2019. She was elected through voting at the 62nd Commonwealth Parliamentarians' Conference in London, United Kingdom. She garnered 53 votes beating Joyce Watson of Wales who received 15 votes, Poto Williams of New Zealand (10 votes) and Linda Reid from Canada who received 9 votes.
Election results
Honours
Honours of Malaysia
: Companion Class I of the Order of Malacca (DMSM) – Datuk (2005) Grand Commander of the Order of Malacca (DGSM) – Datuk Seri (2020) : Knight Companion of the Order of Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang (DSAP) – Dato' (2005)
Honorary degrees
: Honorary Ph.D. degree in Management and Leadership from Indonesian Muslim University (2022)