Son of Yusof Merais, an activist jailed several times by British colonial authorities, brother to Bustari Yusof, a well-known businessman and spouse to Ruziah Mohd Tahir, 56-year-old Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof is well-liked politically and socially. A lawyer by training, he obtained his degree from University of Malaya in 1986 and was a Divisional PBB Youth Information Chief in 1989.
He was a member of Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia (MyIPO) from March 2006 to March 2008 and Chairman of Lembaga Perlesenan Kenderaan Persekutuan Sarawak from May 2007 to March 2008. Currently a PBB senior vice-president, three-term MP Fadillah is defending his Petra Jaya seat in the GE14. In the 2013 general election, he garnered 29,559 votes to defeat PKR’s Ahmad Nazib Johari in a straight fight with a 21,443-vote majority.
Five years earlier, he polled 19,515 votes against Mohamad Jolhi, also from PKR, in a straight fight, to win with a majority of 14,397 votes. Born on 17 April 1962, Fadillah first ran for Parliament in the 2004 election and won the seat of Petra Jaya. After being re-elected in the 2008 election, he was appointed Deputy Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation by then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
On 16 October 2010, he was conferred the award ‘Darjah Panglima Gemilang Bintang Kenyalang’ (PGBK), which carries the title ‘Datuk’. On 16 May 2013, after the 13th general election, he was promoted to a full Minister as Minister of Works under the new Cabinet line-up of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
On the Pan Borneo Highway, Fadillah said that the project is ahead of schedule, although work in some of the areas is facing a slight delay because of land acquisition issues. He described the matter as minor, as the only area left affects the project stretch in Bintulu. “On the whole, the progress of the Pan Borneo Highway project is satisfactory. “Progress on some project packages are between 5% and 7% as they were only launched last December but some of the earlier packages have reached 50% completion.”
The first phase Sarawak stretch of the Pan Borneo Highway project from Telok Melano, Sematan to Sungai Tujuh, Miri is divided into 11 packages. Fadillah targeted for phase two of the project, covering Limbang and Lawas, to commence at the end of this year.
Several proposals of the highway alignment have been submitted to the technical committee for final approval. Putrajaya will make a decision whether the Sarawak portion of the Pan Borneo Highway project would skip Brunei to avoid the hassle of numerous passport checks for motorists and commuters, according to Fadillah.
Political analysts are of the opinion that Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency will be a tough nut to crack for the Opposition in the current 14th General Election considering Satok, one of three state seats under the Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency, is held by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“The Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency has an excellent track record in the elections because of four fundamental reasons, namely high level of preparedness, well-managed election machinery, clear direction which strengthen public trust and confidence in the party as well as strong unity,” Abang Johari who is also Sarawak state BN chairman and PBB president has been quoted as saying in a news report.
In the 2013 general election, Barisan won 25 out of 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak, with DAP winning five and PKR one.
At the launch of the election machinery for the Petra Jaya parliamentary constituency recently, Abang Johari said “we must ensure a bigger majority, especially in Petra Jaya, and deliver 28 seats from Sarawak for Barisan Nasional this election.”
