In this Malay name, there is no surname or family name. The name Cheek is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by their given name, Ahmad Shabery. The word "bin" or "binti"/"binte" means 'son of' or 'daughter of', respectively.
Ahmad Shabery was born in Kijal, Kemaman, Terengganu on 10 December 1958 and received his early education in both Sekolah Sungai Lembing, Kuantan (primary) as well as in Sekolah Datuk Abdul Razak, Seremban (secondary).
In 1983, he pursued a course in economics at Universiti Malaya and graduated with a bachelor's degree. During this period, he was also elected as the president of the university's Muslim Students Association. In 1986, he obtained his master's degree from the University of Leeds and in 1989, he obtained a postgraduate diploma in International Relations from the Uppsala University in Sweden. That same year, he was appointed the Secretary of the Malaysian Social Science Association (PSSM).
Ahmad Shabery left UMNO in 1989 to join other members rebelling against the then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in the newly formed breakaway Parti Melayu Semangat 46 (S46), until its dissolution in 1996 where he rejoined UMNO again.
In 2004, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Kemaman, defeating incumbent Abd Rahman Yusof of the People's Justice Party (PKR) by 15,882 votes. In 2008, he retained the seat after beating PKR's Fariz Musa by 12,682 votes, and won again in 2013, defeating Kamaruddin Chik (PKR) by 12,306 votes. But in the 2018 general election, he lost the parliamentary seat.
In April 2009, he was appointed as Minister of Youth and Sports in a minor cabinet reshuffle.[3]
On 15 July 2008, Ahmad Shabery Cheek participated in a historic debate on the national fuel price with then-opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, which was televised live.[4]
After the 13th general elections in 2013, he was appointed as Minister of Communications and Multimedia for a second time round, after holding the same position in 2008 under a differently named portfolio known as the Ministry of Information.[5]
In 2015, he was appointed as the Minister of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry in a cabinet reshuffle. When he and BN lost in the 2018 general election, he was replaced by Salahuddin Ayub from the Pakatan Harapan (PH) new government.
Chairman of the Federal Land Development Authority (since 2023)
On 28 June 2023, Ahmad Shabery was declared the new Chairman of FELDA succeeding Idris Jusoh. His appointment took effect on 1 July 2023. His appointment was welcomed positively, in which it marked as an enabler of the progress for the transformation efforts of FELDA to benefit both the existing and new generations of settlers.[6]