Noh Omar

Noh was born on 23 February 1958 at Sungai Burong, Tanjung Karang, Selangor. He had his early education at Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan Sungai Burong (1965), later Sekolah Menengah Aminuddin Baki (1977) and then Maktab Perguruan Temenggong Ibrahim. He continued his study later to Thames Valley University.

He had been a teacher in Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, Kula Selangor in 1983. After he graduated and returned from Thames Valley University, he served as a legal officer at Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) in 1988 before he started his own law firm, Ahmad Famy & Noh.

Noh is married to Prof. Dr. Aishah Salleh and the couple has one daughter; Nurul Syazwani.[2]

Noh was appointed to the federal Cabinet by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as Minister for Entrepreneur and Co-operative Development after winning the parliamentary constituency of Tanjong Karang in the 2008 election.[3] On 10 April 2009, he was appointed as Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry by Abdullah's successor, Prime Minister Najib Razak.[4] Najib dropped him from the Cabinet after the 2013 election even though he manage to retain his seat.[5] But he was reappointed to Cabinet as Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government on 27 June 2016.[6]

In 2005, while as Deputy Minister for Internal Security, Noh made international news for his role in the Squatgate controversy concerning the alleged mistreatment of an ethnic Chinese woman by Malaysian police. In response to the revelation of mistreatment and protests by the Chinese government, Noh stated "if foreigners think that Malaysia police are brutal, please go back to their own countries and not to stay here".[7] Noh was reprimanded by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi,[8] and Noh issued an apology for his comments that BBC News described as 'grudging at best'.[9]

In 2012, Noh Omar has been accused of conflict of interest and abusing his power as Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry and Tanjong Karang Member of Parliament for entering a joint-venture to run a prawn farm in 2011 on his own 30-acre, about the size of 15 football fields land; Lot 26426, Bagan Tengkorak in Tanjong Karang which he had bought allegedly below market price only for RM100,000 after he became a Member of Parliament in 1995 and the land certificate of ownership was issued by the Selangor Land Ownership Registrar in September 2009, five months after Noh was appointed to his current cabinet position.[10][11][12][13] Under the 1 January 2011 agreement, Noh had given consent to Pristine Agrofood Sdn Bhd to operate the prawn farm on the land for 10 years for the guaranteed price of at least RM25,200 per year.[14] Revealed documents also showed that Noh inked a private caveat sought by Pristine Agrofood to not sell the land for 10 years, beginning 2011 to maintain the farm.[12][13][14][15]

Noh Omar was also questioned over the Programme of Peoples' Rice Subsidy Voucher or SUBUR (Malay: Baucer Subsidi Beras Untuk Rakyat) which should have manage the rice distribution for the needy peoples introduced when he was the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-based Industry.[11]

In 2016, as Malaysian Minister of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government, he introduced a controversial initiative that would have enabled property developers to give out loans to buyers at an interest rate of 12 per cent with collateral and 18 per cent without collateral.[16] Noh said that the move was intended to assist Malaysians who had been unable to get a full housing loan from banks or those who may only be given a partial housing loan. The proposal was lauded by the Malaysian Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) as it claimed that it helps developers who were finding it difficult to sell homes as more home buyers were being denied loans by banks. However, the proposal was met with fierce opposition, including from then colleague Second Finance Minister Datuk Johari Abdul Ghani who deemed the proposal illogical and unsustainable.

The Malaysian National House Buyers Association and economists warned that Malaysia risked a subprime crisis with the proposal for property developers to get moneylending licences. CIMB chairman Datuk Seri Nazir Razak also spoke out against the "dangerous" idea, saying the focus should have been instead on ensuring that only house buyers who can afford to buy the houses are able to access bank loans at fair prices, giving borrowing subsidies to the needy, and providing more affordable housing.

In the lead-up to the 2018 Malaysian general election, Noh was one of seven MPs from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition named on electoral watchdog Bersih's "Election Offenses Hall of Shame". He was criticised for misusing resources from the Ministry of Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government (KPKT in Malay), which he is the minister of, to hold campaign events in Gombak. He has been giving out cash in an attempt to assist fellow BN candidate Abdul Rahim Kamarudin's attempts to win the marginal[17] constituency off Selangor Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali. This was slammed as "bribery" and an attempt to "unduly influence voters" by Bersih.[18]

In a Parliament of Malaysia sitting in April 2019, he made a series of controversial remarks, stating that “Stealing is not wrong, only when you are arrested it becomes wrong. Riding a motorcycle without a helmet is not wrong; only when the police arrest you, it becomes wrong.”[19] Noh Omar gave the analogy when he was trying to demand equal and fair treatment for all politicians entering schools, as principals who allowed him to enter their premises had been warned by the State Education Department, as per existing regulations on politicians requiring clearance from State Education Departments before any school visits. Noh claimed that this regulation was not enforced by previous Barisan Nasional governments, whilst RSN Rayer from the Democratic Action Party disputed the claim in Parliament and countered that previous Opposition Malaysian Members of Parliament were denied entry to visit schools by respective State Education Departments under previous Barisan Nasional governments.