Shahrir Abdul Samad

He was appointed as the chairman of Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) from 1 January 2017 to 14 May 2018.

In 2008, following the 12th general election which saw BN's majority significantly slashed, Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi appointed Shahrir as Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister. In the 2009 UMNO General Assembly, Shahrir lost his bid for a place in the Supreme Council and consequently resigned from the Cabinet.

On 4 May 2006, Shahrir announced his resignation as chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC). Earlier that day, Parliament had been discussing the issue of a member of parliament (MP) who allegedly asked the Melaka Customs and Excise Department to "close one eye" to an illegal import shipment of timber. Lim Kit Siang of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) and the Leader of the Opposition moved a motion to refer the MP in question to the Dewan Rakyat House Committee of Rights and Privileges. Several BN MPs quickly voiced their disagreement with the motion, but Shahrir – according to one source – "shocked the House" when he stood and spoke in favour of the motion in order "to maintain the integrity of parliamentarians and Parliament". The motion was eventually rejected – in line with the BN policy of not supporting motions moved by the opposition – by the House. Shahrir walked out of the House and held a press conference in the Parliament lobby, telling reporters that "Even though it was an Opposition motion, we should support it for its importance to MPs and the House." He then announced his resignation as the Chairman of the BNBBC. The Deputy chairman, Raja Ahmad Zainuddin Raja Omar, later told reporters he would attempt to persuade Shahrir to stay on.

In 2004, he returned to run for 11th general election in Johor Bahru on a BN-UMNO ticket, and won. He later claimed that then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had offered him a post in the Cabinet, but declined, citing the large number of qualified MPs. Instead, he went on to chair the Public Accounts Committee in the Dewan Rakyat.

In 1973 he became the youngest political secretary in the country when he became political secretary to Musa Hitam, later Deputy Prime Minister. After his tenure expired in 1975, he became political secretary to Prime Minister Tun Abdul Razak till 1976. Shahrir first ran for public office in the 1978 general election, when he won the Parliamentary seat of Johor Bahru. He was initially appointed Deputy Minister, of Trade and Industry, but later became Minister of Welfare, Youth and Sports, and in 1987 took up the post of Federal Territory Minister. He also served as political secretary to Prime Minister Tun Hussein Onn from 1983 to 1986. Shahrir was sacked that year in the events leading up to the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah's challenge to Prime Minister and UMNO President Mahathir Mohamad. In 1988, Shahrir resigned from his Parliamentary seat, and ran for re-election in the resulting by-election as an independent. A year later, he rejoined UMNO, while Razaleigh went on to form Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (S46). He subsequently was dropped as UMNO candidate in the 1990, 1995 and 1999 general elections.

Shahrir bin Abdul Samad (Jawi: شهریار بن عبدالصمد; born 22 November 1949) is a Malaysian politician who was the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (2008-2009), a Member of Parliament of Malaysia and the former chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club (BNBBC). He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), the largest political component party in the former ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. In Parliament – specifically the lower house of Parliament of Malaysia, the Dewan Rakyat – he represented the constituency of Johor Bahru in the state of Johor for six non-consecutive terms. (1978-1990, 2004–2018).