President of the Dewan Negara

President of the Senate
Yang di-Pertua Dewan Negara يڠ دڤرتوا ديوان نڬارا‎
Incumbent Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah since 22 July 2024
Dewan Negara
Style	Yang Berhormat Tuan Yang di-Pertua (formal) Tuan Speaker/Pengurusi (informal and within the House) Tuan President (informal and within the House)
Member of	Committee of Selection, Standing Orders Committee, House Committee, Committee of Privileges
Reports to	Dewan Negara
Appointer	Elected by members of the Dewan Negara
Term length	Elected upon a vacancy
Constituting instrument	Federal Constitution of Malaysia
Inaugural holder	Abdul Rahman Mohamed Yassin
Formation	11 September 1959; 65 years ago (1959-09-11)
Deputy	Deputy President of the Dewan Negara
Salary	MYR 362,000 annually
Website	Parliament of Malaysia

This article is part of a series on the
Politics of Malaysia
Head of State Yang di-Pertuan Agong Ibrahim Iskandar Conference of Rulers
Legislature Parliament of Malaysia 15th Parliament Senate (Dewan Negara) President Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat) Speaker Johari Abdul Leader of the Government Anwar Ibrahim Leader of the Opposition Hamzah Zainudin
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The president of the Senate (Malay: Yang di-Pertua Dewan Negara; Jawi: يڠ دڤرتوا ديوان نڬارا‎) is the presiding officer or speaker of the Dewan Negara, the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia.

The president of the Senate is created under Article 56 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The office is similar to the speaker of the Dewan Rakyat: the president is elected by the members of the Senate and is expected to be politically impartial. If a member of the Dewan Negara is elected as the president and is a member of a state legislative assembly, he must resign from the assembly before exercising the functions of the office. As the president may hold different titles while in office, it also changes the style. The position has been held by Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) since July 2024.

The main functions of the president of the Dewan Negara are:^[1]

• to preside over the sittings of the Dewan Negara
• to be responsible for the observance of the rules in the Dewan Negara
• to ensure the relevancy of the points raised during the debate
• to interpret the Standing Orders in case of disputes and the decision is final

As of 25 November 2024, almost all presidents of the Dewan Negara won unopposed in the presidential election except for Rais Yatim.^[2]

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office			Party		Parliament
			Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Dato' Haji Abdul Rahman Mohamed Yassin Senator from Johore (1890–1970)	11 September 1959	31 December 1968	9 years, 112 days		Alliance (UMNO)	1st
								2nd
2		Syed Sheh Barakbah Appointed Senator (1906–1975)	27 January 1969	5 February 1969	10 days		Alliance (UMNO)	–
3		Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mohamed Noah Omar Appointed Senator (1897–1991)	24 February 1969	28 July 1970	1 year, 155 days		Alliance (UMNO)	–
								3rd
4		Tan Sri Haji Abdul Hamid Khan Appointed Senator	20 February 1971	22 February 1973	2 years, 3 days		Alliance (UMNO)	–
5		Tun Tan Sri Haji Ong Yoke Lin Appointed Senator (1917–2010)	23 February 1973	30 December 1980	7 years, 311 days		Alliance (MCA)	–
							BN (MCA)	4th
								5th
6		Tan Sri Ismail Khan Ibrahim Khan Appointed Senator (1905–2000)	31 December 1980	13 April 1985	4 years, 103 days		BN (UMNO)
								6th
7		Tan Sri Datuk Benedict Stephens Appointed Senator (1926–2003)	15 April 1985	11 April 1988	2 years, 362 days		Independent
								7th
8		Tan Sri Datuk Abang Ahmad Urai Senator from Sarawak (1933–2022)	11 July 1988	9 July 1990	1 year, 363 days		BN (PBB)
9		Tan Sri Dato' Chan Choong Tak Appointed Senator	17 December 1990	31 March 1992	1 year, 105 days		BN (MCA)	8th
10		Tan Sri Dato' Vadiveloo Govindasamy Appointed Senator (–2024)	13 April 1992	12 June 1995	3 years, 60 days		BN (MIC)
								9th
11		Tan Sri Dato' Sri Adam Kadir Appointed Senator	13 June 1995	30 November 1997	2 years, 170 days		BN (UMNO)
12		Tan Sri Dato' Haji Mohamed Yaacob Appointed Senator (1926–2009)	10 December 1997	5 December 2000	2 years, 361 days		BN (UMNO)
								10th
13		Tun Tan Sri Michael Chen Wing Sum Appointed Senator (1932–2024)	7 December 2000	11 April 2003	2 years, 125 days		BN (MCA)
14		Tan Sri Dato' Seri Dr. Abdul Hamid Pawanteh Appointed Senator (1944–2022)	7 July 2003	6 July 2009	5 years, 364 days		BN (UMNO)	–
								11th
								12th
15		Tan Sri Ir. Wong Foon Meng Appointed Senator	7 July 2009	12 April 2010	279 days		BN (MCA)
16		Tan Sri Abu Zahar Ujang Appointed Senator (born 1944)	26 April 2010	25 April 2016	5 years, 365 days		BN (UMNO)	–
								13th
17		Tan Sri Dato' Sri Vigneswaran Sanasee Appointed Senator (born 1965)	26 April 2016	22 June 2020	4 years, 57 days		BN (MIC)
								–
								14th
18		Tan Sri Dato' Seri Utama Dr. Rais Yatim Appointed Senator (born 1942)	2 September 2020	15 June 2023	2 years, 276 days		PN (BERSATU)
								–
								15th
19		Tan Sri Dato Sri Dr. Haji Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar Appointed Senator (born 1946)	19 June 2023	18 January 2024	213 days		GPS (PBB)
20		Datuk Mutang Tagal Appointed Senator (1954–2024)	19 February 2024	10 May 2024	81 days		GPS (PBB)
21		Dato Awang Bemee Awang Ali Basah Appointed Senator (born 1959)	22 July 2024	Incumbent	126 days		GPS (PBB)

As of 25 November 2024, almost all deputy presidents of the Dewan Negara won unopposed in the presidential election except for Nur Jazlan Mohamed.

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Term of office		Party		Parliament
			Took office	Left office
1		S. O. K. Ubaidulla Appointed Senator	22 March 1971	31 December 1980		Alliance (MIC)	3rd
						BN (MIC)	4th
							5th
2		Abdul Hamid Bidin Appointed Senator (1917–1995)	13 April 1981	28 July 1982		BN (UMNO)
3		Sulaiman Ninam Shah Appointed Senator (1920–2003)	14 December 1982	1 April 1985		BN (UMNO)	6th
4		Abang Ahmad Urai Senator from Sarawak	29 July 1985	10 July 1988		BN (PBB)
							7th
5		Tan Peng Khoon Appointed Senator	13 July 1988	27 December 1989		BN (MCA)
6		Chan Choong Tak Appointed Senator	28 December 1989	16 December 1990		BN (MCA)
7		Adam Kadir Appointed Senator	1 April 1992	1 December 1994		BN (UMNO)	8th
			14 December 1994	12 June 1995
8		Michael Chen Wing Sum Appointed Senator (1932-2024)	29 May 1997	5 December 2000		BN (Gerakan)	9th
							10th
9		Gapar Gurrohu Appointed Senator	8 May 2001	22 October 2003		BN (UMNO)
10		Wong Foon Meng Appointed Senator	7 June 2004	6 July 2009		BN (MCA)	11th
							12th
11		Armani Mahiruddin Senator from Sabah (born 1957)	9 July 2009	20 December 2011		BN (UMNO)
12		Doris Sophia Brodi Appointed Senator (born 1960)	26 January 2012	11 March 2016		BN (PRS)
							13th
13		Abdul Halim Abdul Samad Appointed Senator (born 1940)	18 April 2016	2 November 2020		BN (UMNO)
							14th
14		Mohamad Ali Mohamad Senator from Melaka	16 December 2020	19 May 2023		BN (UMNO)
							15th
15		Nur Jazlan Mohamed Appointed Senator (born 1966)	19 June 2023	Incumbent		BN (UMNO)

• Dewan Negara
• Parliament of Malaysia
• Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat

• Parliament of Malaysia (Official site)