Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik

Summary

Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik (born 22 May 1965) is the PKR Member of Parliament for Balik Pulau, Penang, having held the seat since GE14 in 2018 and successfully defending it in GE15 in 2022. He served as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture under the first Pakatan Harapan federal government from 2018 until its collapse in February 2020, and has since served as a backbench MP and chairman of government-linked company MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd. He is an active parliamentary questioner on issues of healthcare, digital governance, food security, and national energy policy.

Biography

Datuk Muhammad Bakhtiar bin Wan Chik (born 22 May 1965, Penang) is a Malaysian politician and member of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition [1]. He has served as the Member of Parliament for Balik Pulau, Penang, since May 2018 [1]. Educated at the University of Arizona [2], he returned to Malaysia and built a career before entering politics. In GE14 (2018), he defeated incumbent Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya and PAS candidate Muhammad Imran Muhammad Sa'ad with a majority of 6,464 votes, garnering 25,471 votes [3]. He previously lost to Dr Hilmi in GE13 (2013) by a majority of 1,539 votes [4]. Following PH's victory in GE14, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, a position he held from July 2018 until the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 [1]. He also served as acting Penang PKR state chief from January 2019 following the resignation of Nurul Izzah Anwar from all party posts [5]. He retained his Balik Pulau parliamentary seat in GE15 (November 2022), with PH winning the seat in a keenly fought contest [3]. In March 2023, he was appointed chairman of MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Minister of Finance Incorporated [5]. He holds the honorific title Datuk, having received the Officer of the Order of the Defender of State award in 2021 [2].

Known for

Muhammad Bakhtiar is known as the two-term PKR MP for Balik Pulau — a constituency with a substantial rural Malay electorate — and for his tenure as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture during the first Pakatan Harapan federal government (2018–2020). He has been a key figure in Penang PKR party organisation, serving as acting state party chief and as the Balik Pulau division chief. He has also been an active parliamentary voice on issues including healthcare system resilience, digital governance, and food security.

Political positions

In Parliament, Muhammad Bakhtiar has raised concerns about the welfare of housemen in the public health system, calling on the Ministry of Health to establish a roadmap with KPI-based accountability for hospital administrators to address bullying, and to conduct stress-testing of the healthcare system [6]. He has questioned the government on transparency in digital content enforcement, asking about MCMC's process for restricting social media content related to defamation and misinformation [7]. He has urged caution on social media regulation, cautioning against adopting policies modelled on other countries without examining root causes domestically [7]. He has also questioned Malaysia's strategic plan on food waste reduction in the agricultural sector in line with Sustainable Development Goals [7]. In Parliament, he raised questions about the rationale for PETRONAS's asset portfolio rationalisation and the company's strategy in response to global market uncertainty [8]. On constituency matters, he has called for community consultation before proceeding with migrant worker hostel construction in Teluk Kumbar, citing the impact on local infrastructure and public facilities [9]. He has been a signatory of a joint PKR MP statement urging the newly appointed Chief Justice to uphold judicial independence [3].

Education

1. Pre-1990sMuhammad Bakhtiar studied at the University of Arizona, as recorded in his Wikidata entry sourced from Wikipedia.⛓

Political career

1. 2013Contested Balik Pulau parliamentary seat for PKR in GE13. Lost to BN incumbent Datuk Seri Dr Hilmi Yahaya by a majority of 1,539 votes.⛓
2. May 2018Won the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat in GE14 for PKR, defeating BN incumbent Dr Hilmi Yahaya and PAS candidate Muhammad Imran Muhammad Sa'ad with a majority of 6,464 votes, garnering 25,471 votes.⛓
3. July 2018Appointed Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture in the Pakatan Harapan federal government under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, with Minister Mohammadin Ketapi.⛓
4. January 2019Appointed acting Penang PKR state chief after Nurul Izzah Anwar resigned from all party posts, with Bayan Baru MP Sim Tze Tzin as his deputy.⛓
5. February 2020Ceased to serve as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture following the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration.⛓
6. November 2022Successfully retained the Balik Pulau parliamentary seat under the PH banner in GE15.⛓
7. March 2023Appointed chairman of MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Minister of Finance Incorporated, replacing Noor Azmi Mat Said.⛓

Election history

• 2022Balik PulauWon⛓
• 2018Balik PulauWon⛓
• 2013Balik PulauLost⛓

Perspectives on key issues

• VerifiedFactsMuhammad Bakhtiar has served as MP for Balik Pulau since May 2018 and was re-elected in November 2022. He served as Deputy Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture from July 2018 to February 2020. He was appointed chairman of MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd in March 2023.⛓
• ExpertEconomist Edmund Terence Gomez, as reported by Free Malaysia Today, said he believed Muhammad Bakhtiar's appointment as MyCreative Ventures chairman was to appeal to Bumiputera voters ahead of state elections, and urged the government to justify the appointment and review the GLC ecosystem.⛓
• ExpertEconomist Ramon Navaratnam, as reported by Free Malaysia Today, questioned the appointment of Muhammad Bakhtiar as MyCreative Ventures chairman, saying it was inconsistent with good governance practices and that the government was repeating old mistakes by appointing politicians to head GLCs.⛓
• IndustryMyCreative Group CEO Junady Nawawi said in a statement that Muhammad Bakhtiar's experience in development and strategic planning, as well as his interest in art, culture, and heritage, would help bring local entrepreneurs and arts activists to the global stage.⛓
• GovernmentAs part of a joint PKR MPs statement reported by The Star, Muhammad Bakhtiar signed a statement saying that the new Chief Justice's appointment should serve as encouragement to prove his leadership would defend the independence of the judiciary.⛓

Business interests (publicly reported)

According to Free Malaysia Today, Muhammad Bakhtiar was appointed chairman of MyCreative Ventures Sdn Bhd in March 2023, a wholly owned subsidiary of Minister of Finance Incorporated that reports to the communications and digital ministry to advance Malaysia's creative industry. The appointment drew public commentary from economists and civil society groups who questioned the practice of appointing sitting MPs to head government-linked companies (Source: freemalaysiatoday.com; nst.com.my).