Only one UMNO MP has 100% attendance. But you’ve never heard of him

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Know this man? Though he might not be as recognizable as Syed Saddiq or KJ, he’s actually got a 100% perfect record for attending parliament. And yet, there’s barely any coverage on this man available online. Which tbh, we found a bit weird, since he says some pretty interesting things in parliament…

His name? Mohd. Salim bin Shariff, MP for Jempol.

YB Dato’ Haji Mohd Salim bin Haji Sharif. Image from: YB Dato’ Hj Salim Sharif P127 FB page

But how did we find out about him? Well, he caught our interest after ex-Cilibos’s pet project MyMP, a website that tracks the stats of each and every Malaysian MP (sort of like FIFA, but for politics), showed that…

Not only did he have 100% attendance, he also asks intelligent questions in parliament

Yes, turns out that the 100% wasn’t just for show either; just check out his respective scores for Availability, Loyalty, Work Ethic, and Win Percentage:

Note: No data exists for his asset declarations, so Transparency (Ketelusan) is not given. Image from: MyMP

As can be seen from the stats above, he asked 10 questions in parliament, not all of which had to do with his field of agriculture (he’s also Chairman of the Rubber Industry Smallholders Development Authority (RISDA)). The details of the questions can be viewed on the MyMP website, and were on the following themes:

Unemployment: How to create jobs and reduce unemployment during the pandemic.
Education: Strengthening the grade score for government school headmasters and their Senior Assistants.
Agriculture exports: Increasing exports from the agricultural sector.
Payouts for rubber planters: Asked for an explanation regarding the lateness of IPG payouts to rubber planters.
FELDA soil grafting project: Asked about the implications of FELDA’s soil grafting pilot project for its settlers.
Public transport: Asked for latest developments regarding the suggestion to implement motorcycle taxis or GoJek, as well as safety assurances for both riders and passengers.
Taxi/e-hailer SOCSO coverage: Asked about SOCSO insurance coverage schemes among taxi riders and e-hailers, as well as action to be taken should this fail to be carried out.
Tabung Haji assets: Asked the Prime Minister to state the names of companies known as Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) under the Finance Ministry regarding the transfer of Tabung Haji assets, and inquiring if the asset transfers would affect dividends.
Petrol subsidies: Asked about targeted RON95 petrol subsidies, and if they would benefit the rural communities who are located far from petrol stations. (good one!)
Rural development: Asked the Prime Minister to state the ministry’s plans to develop rural areas, especially in Orang Asli villages.

It’s a pretty long list, but TL; DR: he’s addressed quite a diverse number of issues. One interesting thing that we noticed is that even as an UMNO guy, he frequently directs compelling questions towards government ministries, and even the PM himself as can be seen from the above. Like this one time he questioned the cooperation between the federal and state governments in handling the flood crisis:

He also definitely doesn’t shy away from expressing controversial viewpoints; for one, he’s defended the very-controversial SOSMA Act:

Here’s what else we know about this low-profile character…

He’s an ex-senator who’s now the Division Chairman for UMNO Jempol

Born in Jempol, Negeri Sembilan on New Year’s Day in 1965, Salim would grow up to serve his hometown in various capacities, with his first major position being that of Senator for Negeri Sembilan (2014-18), before becoming Division Chairman for UMNO Jempol (2013- ), and then MP of Jempol (2018- ). Sometime in his career, he received his Datukship from, yep you guessed it: Negeri Sembilan.

You can take the boy out of Jempol, but you can’t take the Jempol out of the boy. Image from: RTM

Besides that, he’s also got quite the green thumb, and really likes being around plants; besides being Chairman of RISDA, he has an Executive Degree in Leadership Management from the Malaysian University College of Agroscience (UCAM), and a Certificate of Garden Management from MARDI.

Not all MPs need to be insta-famous to do their job

While we won’t argue that having a significant presence both online and offline is a huge advantage in today’s political sphere, it just goes to show that optics aren’t everything. But perhaps more importantly is that, contrary to what some in the public may think, yes, an MP can do their job well without having to be in the headlines every other day.

And we, the people, are always watching.