Datuk Arif Shah bin Omar Shah (born 2 November 1956) is a Malaysian politician. He had served as Member of Penang State Legislative Assembly for Seberang Jaya from 2004 to 2013. He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN).
| Honorific-Prefix: | Yang Berbahagia Datuk |
| Arif Shah Omar Shah | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | DMSM PJK |
| Birth Date: | 2 November 1956 |
| Residence: | Persiaran Tenggiri, Seberang Jaya |
| Constituency Am1: | Seberang Jaya |
| Assembly1: | Penang State Legislative |
| Majority1: | 4,464 (2004) 533 (2008) |
| Term Start1: | 2004 |
| Term End1: | 2013 |
| Predecessor1: | Raden Muhamad Amin Raden Hadi Munir (BN–UMNO) |
| Successor1: | Afif Bahardin (PR–PKR) |
| Party: | United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) |
| Spouse: | Datin Latifah Asmawi |
| Children: | Izhar Shah Arif Shah |
| Native Name: | Malay: {{Script|Arab|عارف شاه عمر شاه |
| Otherparty: | Barisan Nasional (BN) |
He was nicknamed by the local Chinese community as "pek moh" (白毛), meaning "white hair" in Hokkien, because he was full of white hair.
Arif Shah was born on 2 November 1956. Arif Shah can speak Mandarin and Hokkien due to his early education at SRJK(C) Hun Lian, Taiping, Perak and followed by primary school extension at SRJK(C) Chong Hwa Wei Sin, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu. He then continued his education at SMJK(C) Chong Hwa Wei Sin, Kuala Terengganu and continued his studies at Chong Hwa High School, Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. His ability to speak Mandarin and Hokkien abled him to understand the problems of the Chinese community and be able to communicate with them.
Next he studied at the Federal Institute of Technology majoring in civil engineering, then to Graber International, California, United States in the department of building materials.
On 15 March 2008, a demonstration was held in front of the Komtar building, Penang. The demonstration was broadcast by TV3 and RTM. They were orchestrated by the opposition in the Penang State Legislative Assembly. There was a newspaper that wrongly reported that Arif Shah was also present in this gathering, because the picture showed a white-haired man who was thought to be Arif Shah, but was actually Musa Sheikh Fadzir. They objected to the announcement of then-Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng to abolish the New Economic Policy and replaced it with the Malaysian Economic Agenda.[1]
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | N10 Seberang Jaya | (UMNO) | 10,113 | 64.16% | Mansor Othman (PKR) | 5,649 | 35.84% | 15,962 | 4,464 | 79.48% | ||||
| 2008 | (UMNO) | 9,395 | 51.50% | Ramli Bulat (PKR) | 8,862 | 48.50% | 18,493 | 533 | 81.54% | |||||
| Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | P044 Permatang Pauh | Arif Shah Omar Shah (UMNO) | 15,524 | 33.16% | (PKR) | 31,195 | 66.64% | 47,258 | 15,671 | 80.84% | |||
| (AKIM) | 92 | 0.20% | |||||||||||