Associate Professor Dato' Dr. Mahadzir Mohd. Khir was born on 16 May, 1945 in Kedah. He was educated at the University of Malaya and the University of Michigan, USA.

Career

• Former teacher
  
• Lecturer in the Department of History, University of Malaya
  
• President, Association of the Academic Staff of the University of Malaya (KKAUM)
  
• Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education

Political Involvement

• Won the parliamentary seat of Sungai Petani (1999)

He was well known to the Malaysian public as a result of his involvement as a columnist for a number of local magazines and appearing in a number of forums on television. Having a great interest towards literature and fiction, and owns a great collectiuon of books. His selection of books focuses on the country' s history as well as that of neighbouring countries.

With his appointment as the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Assoc. Professor Dato' Dr. Mahadzir Mohd. Khir hopes to encourage the young generation to aspire to become capable leaders to lead the country into the coming century. His main emphasis is on the primary school students, by emphasizing education based on information technology, especially computers. As a member of Parliament who has a deep interest in reading, he has extended the establishment of People's Reading Centres (Pusat Bacaan Rakyat- PUBARA) in many districts of Kedah. He focuses greater on the libraries of primary schools, so as to strengthen the existing facilities.

In appreciation of his services and contributions, he was bestowed the Dato' Setia DiRaja Kedah (D.S.D.K.) which carries the title of Dato' by HRH the Sultan of Kedah.