A Malaysian, obtained his Honours Degree in Law from the University of Singapore in 1970. He started his working life in 1970 with First National City Bank (now Citibank) for 2 years and went into law practice with a leading law firm in Kuala Lumpur for another two years, after which he started his own law firm which flourished. In 1986 he retired from law practice and went headlong into politics, ultimately becoming UMNO Chief of Petaling Jaya. He was State Assemblyman for Kelana Jaya for two terms (1986 till 1995).
He was also a Municipal Councilor in Majlis Perbandaran Petaling Jaya and Majlis Perbandaran Subang Jaya for 20 years. He had a stint as the Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee of The Selangor State Assembly and a director of PKPS (Selangor Agricultural Development Corporation) and SIC (Selangor Industrial Corporation).
He left active politics in 1995. In the late 90s, he was appointed a member of the National Economic Consultative Council 2 (NECC 2) by the then Prime Minister, where he was involved in Human Resource Development. In September 1999, he was appointed to the Capital Market Strategic Committee by the then Finance Minister and in August 2001 was appointed as a member of the Corporate Debt Restructuring Committee (CDRC) of Bank Negara. He was elected Executive Committee Member of the Federation of Public Listed Companies Berhad (FPLC) in August 1994 and was elected as its President in October 1997. He represented this organization to the High-Level Finance Committee of the Ministry of Finance until 2000. Presently he is the Honorary Patron of Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG), of which he was its President from April 1998 till 2015.
He is a member of the Transparency International Malaysia (TIM) and the Chairman of Green Venture Capital Sdn. Bhd. Tan Sri is the Chairman of the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM). He was a member of Bank Negara Malaysia’s Financial Directors’ Education Steering Committee (FIDE).
He also serves as a Non-Executive Independent Director of PETRONAS from April 2010 until April 2017. In January 2018, he resigned his Chairmanship of Omesti Berhad (former Formis Resources Berhad) and Tradewinds Corporations Berhad. In June 2018, he resigned as Chairman of MajuPerak Holdings Berhad. Presently he is the Honorary Patron of Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG), of which he was its first President and founder from April 1998 till 2015. He is a member of the Transparency International Malaysia (TIM).
Tan Sri is the Chairman of the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM); Ulink Ascot Sdn Bhd in Kota Kinabalu. In February 2021, Tan Sri Megat was appointed as Advisor of Dialog Corporate Sdn Bhd while in March 2021, he was appointed as Chairman of MYSJ Sdn. Bhd. (MySejahtera). Currently, Tan Sri Megat is the Chairman of Asian Pac Holdings Berhad and SEG International Bhd. On July 01, 2020 Tan Sri Megat was appointed as Chairman of Sime Darby Plantation Berhad and retired from the company 15 June 2023. He was appointed as Chairman of Farm Fresh Berhad on 25 September 2021.He is current President of Persatuan Darul Ridzuan in Wilayah Persekutuan and Selangor (a welfare organization). He has been President of Kelab Golf Negara Subang for 6 years. He is the Advisor and Trustee of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Charity Golf; he is also a Trustee of MyKasih (Charity) Foundation and the Vijayaratnam Foundation. Tan Sri Megat is a Council Member of Quest International University in Perak.