Juhar Mahiruddin

Juhar Mahiruddin was born on Tambisan Island, off the coast of the Sandakan Division in Sabah in 1953 to a political family. His father, Mahiruddin Husin was a member of the United Sabah National Organisation (USNO).

He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1977 and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1980. He served as a first-class magistrate from 1981 to 1982 and went into private practice from 1982 to 1985.

Juhar joined USNO, a Barisan Nasional (BN) component at the time, and campaigned unsuccessfully for office twice, before being elected to Dewan Rakyat for Kinabatangan in 1990. He was also appointed as the Deputy Speaker upon taking his seat in parliament, and served throughout his term as member of parliament.

USNO had been experiencing a decline since 1976, when it lost the state government to the Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA), which later joined BN. It was disbanded in 1991, and Juhar was involved in negotiations that culminated in the entry of UMNO into Sabah, and the absorption of USNO members into UMNO.

He was not selected to contest the 1999 general election, but remained active in politics. In 2002, he was appointed as the Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly. He continued to serve until December 2010, when he was appointed the 10th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah by King Mizan Zainal Abidin. He was sworn in on 1 January 2011.

He was sworn in once again for his second term on the first day in 2015.

Juhar is married to Norlidah R.M. Jasni and has four children.