Juhar was born on Tambisan Island, off the coast of the Sandakan Division in Sabah in 1953 to a political family.

[2] He received his Bachelor of Laws degree from Wolverhampton Polytechnic in 1977 and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1980.

[2][3] Juhar joined USNO, a Barisan Nasional (BN) component party of the time, and campaigned unsuccessfully for office twice, before being elected to Dewan Rakyat for Kinabatangan in October 1990.

USNO had been experiencing a decline since 1976, when it lost the state government to the Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA), which later joined BN.

[2] He carried on to serve till December 2010, when he was to be appointed the 10th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah by King Mizan Zainal Abidin.