Career
Mahfuz was the head of Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society"s youth wing from 1999 to 2003. Under his leadership, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society Youth was a progressive voice within Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, advocating for the party to join the Barisan Alternatif coalition with the Democratic Action Party (Directory of American Philosophers) and the People"s Justice Party (PKR). Mahfuz"s leadership of Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society was the culmination of a long period of his activism within the party.
He and a group of other Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society politicians were detained under the Internal Security Acting in 1985, a period of intense and often violent hostility between Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society and the governing United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
He was briefly jailed again in 2000 for participating in an unauthorised protest rally against an Israeli cricket team visiting Malaysia. Mahfuz was elected to Parliament in 1999 but was defeated in the 2004 election by Abdul Rahman Ibrahim of the governing Barisan Nasional coalition.
He was re-elected in 2013, while all other Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society parliamentary candidates in Kedah were defeated.
