Onn Hafiz Ghazi

Onn Hafiz bin Ghazi (; born 2 March 1979) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 19th Menteri Besar of Johor since 2022. A member of UMNO, he served as member of the Johor State Legislative Assembly for Machap since 2022, having previously served in the same position for Layang-Layang from 2018 to 2022. Onn Hafiz is also the state chairman of UMNO of Johor since 2023 and the state chairman of Barisan Nasional (BN) of Johor since 2024.

Born in Simpang Renggam, Onn Hafiz graduated from University of Hertfordshire with a bachelor's degree in accounting. From March 2020 to his promotion to become Menteri Besar in March 2022, he served as Member of the Johor State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Barisan Nasional (BN) state administration under former Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad. He is a member and the Division Chief of Simpang Renggam of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition.

Early life, family and education Onn Hafiz was born on 2 March 1979 in Simpang Renggam, Kluang, Johor, to Datin Roquaiya Hanim Hussein (1949–2006) and Dato' Ghazi Ishak (1943–2021), former prime minister Hussein Onn's eldest child. He comes from a family with a long political pedigree; he is the great-great-grandson of the first Menteri Besar of Johor, Jaafar Muhammad, great-grandson of the seventh Menteri Besar of Johor and first President of UMNO, Onn Jaafar, grandson of the third Prime Minister of Malaysia, Hussein Onn, and nephew of former Minister of Defence, Hishammuddin Hussein.

Onn Hafiz attended the Royal Military College in Sungai Besi, Kuala Lumpur. He received a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Accounting from University of Hertfordshire.

Political career Onn Hafiz was an EXCO of the UMNO Youth in 2013-2018 under the leadership of Khairy Jamaluddin. In the 2018 election, he was chosen as the candidate for the Layang-Layang seat and won it with a small majority of only 364 against candidates from PKR and PAS. In the 2022 election, Onn Hafiz switched constituencies to Machap and won it with a majority of 6,543 against 3 candidates including a candidate from PEJUANG, Shahruddin Md Salleh.

On 15 March 2022, Onn Hafiz was officially sworn in as the new and 19th Menteri Besar of Johor, the 4th officeholder in just a single term of Parliament of Malaysia. Initially after the 2022 Johor state election, BN Chairman and UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi revealed that he would submit the name of his predecessor and caretaker Menteri Besar Hasni Mohammad to the Sultan of Johor for Hasni to be reappointed to the position after BN gained landslide victory in the election. BN previously also picked Hasni as its Menteri Besar candidate before BN returned to power. However a day before his appointment, Hasni suddenly announced his withdrawal from the running for the position and that he would pave way and endorse a younger candidate to lead the state government citing long term development for Johor and Onn Hafiz was instead appointed the next day.

Controversies and issues 1MDB Scandal

In April 2019, Onn Hafiz was a witness in former prime minister Najib Razak’s corruption trial, which involved millions of ringgit linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). He testified to the Kuala Lumpur High Court that his company Vital Spire received a cheque for RM240,000 from Najib to launch the Malaysian Digest portal.

Election results

Honours