Shahid Rafique Malik (; born 24 November 1967) is a British media executive and former politician. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Dewsbury from 2005 to 2010.
The son of the mayor of Burnley, Malik studied business at Durham University. Prior to his election to parliament, Malik worked in the urban development, communities and education sectors. Elected at the 2005 general election, Malik and Sadiq Khan were the first British-born Muslims to be elected to parliament.
In 2007, Malik became Britain's first Muslim government minister. Initially responsible for the Department for International Development from 2007 to 2008, he subsequently served at the Ministry of Justice from 2008 to 2009 and Department for Communities and Local Government from 2009 to 2010. In his last ministerial role, he led the British government's efforts in fighting extremism; overseeing race, faith, and community cohesion; developing the Thames Gateway; and managing the Fire and Rescue Service. He lost his seat at the 2010 general election.
Early life and education Malik was born in Burnley, Lancashire, in 1967. His father Rafique Malik was a district councillor between 1976 and 2006 and a mayor of Burnley, having emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s. Malik is one of seven siblings.
He attended Barden High School and Burnley Sixth Form Centre before studying Business Studies at the South Bank Polytechnic in London but formally graduated from Durham University.
Pre-parliamentary career After graduating, Malik initially worked with the East Lancashire Training and Enterprise Council in a business development capacity and later was chief executive of the Pakistan Muslim Centre in Sheffield and the Haringey Regeneration Agency. He was national chair of the voluntary sector body Urban Forum from 1999 to 2002. He was a commissioner for racial equality from 1998 to 2002 and an equality commissioner for Northern Ireland from 1999 to 2002. He also was an independent governor of Sheffield Hallam University from 1995 to 2001 and as vice-chair of the United Nations body, UNESCO UK, from 2000 to 2003.
In 2000, Malik was elected as the first non-white member of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party. He was re-elected each year until 2005 when he stood down after being elected as an MP. Malik sought selection in several seats including Leeds Central and Tottenham. In 2002 he had hoped to be selected in his home town of Burnley where Peter Pike had indicated he was standing down. However, the National Executive Committee decided that the Constituency Labour Party should have an all-women shortlist. He then stood for selection in Brent East after Labour lost the 2003 by-election but was left off the shortlist despite having gained the most nominations in the selection process.
In June 2001, Malik was arrested and allegedly beaten by police during racially motivated riots in Burnley. He said he had been trying to stop the violence and told the BBC he had been arrested by "very hyped-up" police. "The riot shields were smashed in my face, causing four to five stitches above the eye, a black eye, lacerations to the arm, bruises on the back of the head, on the body and on the legs." On leaving Burnley General Hospital Malik said: "No recriminations. This incident should not stereotype all police officers". No charges were brought by Lancashire Police and Malik was offered an apology. In April 2003, Malik won a public apology and "substantial" libel damages after being wrongly accused of throwing bricks during the riots in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph on 17 January 2002. Malik's lawyer told the High Court in London: "At the time referred to in the article, he was acting as a mediator and peacemaker in a volatile situation following disturbances in Burnley."
Parliamentary career
2005 general election In 2004 Malik was selected as the Labour candidate in Dewsbury for the 2005 general election. Labour saw a 6% drop in its vote nationally in 2005, and despite a 4.2% swing to the Conservatives in Dewsbury, Malik comfortably retained the seat for Labour with a majority of 4,615 ahead of Sayeeda Warsi. Upon his election, Malik was one of the first British-born Muslims to become an MP.
At the 2005 House Magazine Awards, he was awarded the best Maiden Speech among the one hundred plus new MPs elected in 2005. In February 2006, he was runner-up in the Channel Four News awards in the 'Rising Star' category. Upon election, Malik was appointed to the Home Affairs Select Committee. He also served on the Environmental Audit Select Committee until the cabinet reshuffle of May 2006 when he was appointed as the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Minister of State for Schools Jim Knight. He was an international monitor for the Palestinian Presidential elections in 2005 and Parliamentary elections in January 2006.
Race and community cohesion issues Soon after his election to the House of Commons in 2005, Malik became one of the public faces of Muslim leadership in the UK and a leading voice in the battle with Islamic extremism in Britain. In the government reshuffle of 9 June 2009, Malik was given ministerial responsibility for issues of race, faith and community cohesion. In 2008, he was made an honorary Doctor of the University of Bradford for his contributions as Member of Parliament and, in particular, in recognition of the distinctive role he has played in working towards community cohesion and in striving for racial harmony.
Terrorism and extremism Just two months after Malik was elected to the House of Commons, it was revealed that the leader of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, Mohammad Sidique Khan, came from his Dewsbury constituency. Malik described the bombings as "the most profound challenge yet faced by the British Muslim community". He said: "Condemnation is not enough and British Muslims must, and I believe are prepared to, confront the voices of evil head on."
Later Malik confronted the issue in an article for The Times newspaper. He wrote: "Yes, foreign policy causes anger among many British Muslims but this does not in itself cause terrorism. Unquestionably, the lethal ingredient is a twisted, perverted interpretation of Islam whereby you can legitimately kill yourself and other innocent people, and you will go to Heaven." He concluded that: "For British Muslims the fight against extremism is not just for the very soul of Islam but for the freedoms we enjoy as Britons."
Malik found controversy in February 2007 when he wrote, again in The Times, that the Muslim Council of Britain should "stop whingeing and show leadership." Referring to their decision not to play a part in Holocaust Memorial Day, Malik wrote: "Its flawed moral leadership places the MCB alongside the likes of the BNP leader, Nick Griffin, as nonattendees."
Muslim veil row In October 2006 Malik garnered national attention when he spoke out in support of the decision to suspend, and later sack, a Muslim teaching assistant from Dewsbury for refusing to remove her veil in the classroom. Aishah Azmi, 24, was asked to remove her niqab veil after pupils found it hard to understand her during English language lessons. The school said she could wear the veil outside the classroom. Malik said: "In schools the top priority has got to be the education of our children... I believe the education authority has bent over backwards to be accommodating and has been extremely reasonable and sensible in the decision it has come to.” "There is no religious obligation whatsoever for Muslim women to cover themselves up in front of primary school children."
In June 2009 Malik spoke out against comments made by Nicolas Sarkozy after the French President declared the burqa was "not welcome" in France. Sarkozy said: "The burqa is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience." Malik responded publicly by saying: "It is not the job of government to dictate what people should or should not wear in our society – that is a matter of personal choice."
"There are no laws stating what clothes or attire are acceptable and so whether one chooses to wear a veil or burqa, a miniskirt or goth outfit is entirely at the individual's discretion."
Parliamentary cleaners' rights Malik placed an early day motion (EDM 434, 2005), which attracted 178 MPs signatures and led to the first picket and strike in the Houses of Parliament and eventually to improved pay and conditions for the cleaners of Parliament. EDM 434 stated: That this House values the cleaners who maintain high standards of service to Parliament; believes the parliamentary cleaners should be treated with respect and that it is wrong that, despite the widespread concern over their pay and conditions of employment, their pay has only increased from the national minimum wage of £4.85 per hour to £5 per hour; is concerned that the parliamentary cleaners only enjoy 12 days' paid holiday and have no company sick pay or pension; believes the time has come to end this sorry state of affairs; and urges the parliamentary authorities to reach agreement with the two contractors on making available the necessary resources to ensure that cleaners earn the London living wage.
2010 general election At the 2010 general election Malik lost his seat in the House of Commons to Simon Reevell of the Conservative Party. There had been significant boundary changes in his constituency which he felt had counted against him. Malik commented that the changes "brought in 26,000 extra Tories" from rural areas, including Denby Dale and Kirkburton. In his speech on election night, Malik also accused the independent candidate, Khizar Iqbal, of being "brought forward not to win but to make sure that I lost". Iqbal had been supported by anti-sleaze campaigner Martin Bell.
Ministerial career (2007–2010)
International Development minister Malik's first and longest ministerial role was as International Development minister where his roles included: conflict, humanitarian affairs and security; globally development programmes apart from Sub-Saharan Africa; UK civil society; Asian and Inter-American Development Banks; Caribbean Development Bank; Asia, MENA, South America and Europe development; and aid effectiveness.http://www.caribank.org/events/closing-by-the-chairmanelect Malik was responsible for the UK's largest global aid programmes including in India, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the Middle East and North Africa, the rest of Asia, South America and Europe. He was also the UK's Aid Effectiveness Minister working to ensure that the impact of aid was maximised, and gave evidence to the Parliament's International Development Committee on the issue.
In his role as the UK Minister responsible for Humanitarian Affairs, Conflict and Security Operations he had responsibility for overseeing the response to humanitarian emergencies both natural and man-made. For example, it covered disasters such as Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh Cyclone Nargis in Burma; and the Pakistan earthquake, as well as man-made challenges, which meant supporting the work in Afghanistan, Iraq as well as for example UNRWA, UNDP, UNICEF, WHO etc.
Some of the individual initiative's in countries were in partnership with other countries and were relatively sizeable for example he signed a £90m maternal and new born health programme in Pakistan which was designed to save the lives of an estimated 30,000 women and some 350,000 children.
Malik was involved in the transition of Nepal out of civil war into an inclusive democracy. In this role he acted as an honest broker engaging with the Maoists leader Chairman Prachanda and the seven party alliance including PM Koirala. Other troubled areas that Malik engaged with included Darfur. In addition, Malik's focused his efforts on the Far East with visits and support to Vietnam and Indonesia.