Ahmad Zahid bin Hamidi was born on 4 January 1953 in Ponorogo, East Java, Indonesia

Both of his parents are Indonesian-born

He was raised by a Chinese foster-father, Chen Jin Ting and sold ice cream together for six years with his foster family when he was in elementary school. Chen was not highly educated and would cycle from his house at Simpang Tiga, Hilir Perak to about three kilometers away selling ice cream. Chen was married with his foster mother, Guo Jin Luan. His father later died in 1999, more than ten days after the general election of that year.[7] Following accusations that he was anti-Chinese, he stated "Am I anti-Chinese when I have a Chinese foster father?"