In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Naina Merican is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Reezal Merican. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.
Before entering Parliament, Reezal worked in the bank sector.[3] Reezal took over Abdullah as the party's division head of Kepala Batas and as the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate for the parliamentary seat.[4] Reezal won the seat in the 2013 Malaysian general election while defeated a candidate from the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) by 4,176 majority of the votes.[5] In October 2013, he was elected to Supreme Council of UMNO, the highest-ranking body of the party.[6] In a cabinet reshuffle on 28 July 2015, Reezal was picked as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs by former prime minister Najib Razak. Despite winning the majority to defend his seat in his parliamentary constituency, Reezal lost his cabinet post following the results of the 2018 Malaysian general election. At the 2023 Penang state election, he alongside Rashidi Zinol
are the only Malay representatives in the PH-BN Unity Government elected from the mainland Seberang Perai part of Penang.
Controversy
On 29 August 2015, Reezal intimidated Malaysians participating in the Bersih 4 demonstrations abroad that the Foreign Ministry would gather their information for eventual legal action against them, without even citing which law the citizen abroad violated.[7]
Personal life
After first wife Ismalina Ismail and second wife Sharifah Norhaslinda which once filed for divorce with Reezal but retracted.[8]
