title: Zahid Arip
text: # Zahid Arip
  
  Muhammad Zahid bin Mat Arip (born 22 June 1966) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Senator from June 2020 to June 2023 and Political Secretary to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from 2018 to 2020. He is a member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), a component party of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) and formerly Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalitions and was a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He also served as Member of the Supreme Council of BERSATU from 2016 to 2020.
  
  ## Family
  
  He is the grandson of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Abdul Ghafar Baba. His uncle is Tamrin bin Abdul Ghafar who was once active in the United Malays National Organization and subsequently transferred to the Islamic Party.
  
  ## Politics
  
  He was a former United Malays National Organization member before joining United Indigenous Party. After joining United Indigenous Party, he was appointed as a Member of the party's Supreme Leadership Council.
  
  In the general elections in 2018, he contested for the Pekan district, but lost to the incumbent, Najib Razak.
  
  