Othman Aziz

Dato' Othman bin Aziz (born 15 May 1959) is a Malaysian politician. He is the member of the Parliament of Malaysia for the seat of Jerlun, Kedah, having been elected in 2013. He previously served one term in the Kedah State Legislative Assembly (2004–2008) and was the chairman of the Kedah Tourism Action Council. He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition. Othman was born in Alor Setar, Kedah. He received his primary education at the Sekolah Kebangsaan Ayer Hitam, Kedah. He continued his secondary education in Kolej Sultan Abdul Hamid and later went to University Technology MARA to study a Diploma in Business Administration. After completing his diploma he went to the National University of Malaysia and graduated with Bachelor of Marketing Studies. He subsequently held a number of positions in corporate enterprises. In the 2004 general election, Othman was elected to the state assembly of Kedah, defeating the incumbent Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) assemblyman Abdul Ghani Ahmad by 860 votes in the seat of Ayer Hitam. In 2005 he was appointed to the Executive Council of the Kedah state government by the incoming Chief Minister Mahdzir Khalid. During this time he also managed the Kedah Football Association. He was a casualty of the Barisan Nasional state government's defeat in the 2008 election, as he lost his seat by 506 votes to his predecessor, Abdul Ghani. In the 2013 election, Othman ran for the UMNO-held federal seat of Jerlun. Jerlun was being vacated by Mukhriz Mahathir, who was seeking to move to state politics to become Kedah's Chief Minister. Othman defeated PAS's Ismail Salleh by 3,270 votes, winning election to the federal parliament.