Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob
Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob secured a parliamentary majority from the same coalition that collapsed a few days earlier. Ismail Sabri, who was deputy premier in former premier Muhyiddin Yassin's coalition, had received the backing of 114 out of 220 lawmakers to become third prime minister in three years.
Ismail Sabri’s appointment marked the return of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) party to leadership, three years after it lost a general election amid public anger at corruption and the multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. Analysts said he was a stop-gap leader with little chance of ending long-running turbulence. Unless he grows into the job, he will only be there until the next general election.
If Malaysia's daily Covid-19 case figures remain in the tens of thousands and economic conditions do not improve, Ismail's government, which is supported by a slim majority of 114 out of 220 parliamentarians, has the potential to be short-lived like the two previous governments.
Ismail Sabri is “a bridge between the different camps in [Muhyiddin’s party] and UMNO – the man in the right place”, said Bridget Welsh, a Malaysia expert from the University of Nottingham. But his government is effectively an expanded version of the one that just fell apart – Muhyiddin and his allies are supporting him – and he has not been elected by the public. The king picked the prime minister based on who commands the most support in parliament rather than going for an election for fear it could worsen the dire virus outbreak.
Born in Pahang on Jan. 18, 1960, he married Datin Muhaini Zainal Abidin in 1986. His son Gadaffi Ismail Sabri or popularly Dafi was a student of Akademi Fantasia Season 5, an entertainment reality show, and is now a singer.
Ismail Sabri started his schooling at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bangau in 1967. He then continued his education at Sekolah Menengah Air Putih, Kuantan in 1973 and Sekolah Menengah Teknik Kuantan, Pahang in 1976. He then studied form six at Jaya Akademik and continued his studies at the Faculty of Law, University of Malaya in 1980. The title of his LL.B thesis is "Layanan terhadap tahanan politik di Malaysia" (approximately Treatment of political detainees in Malaysia).
Sabri is a familiar face in the country’s politics. He started his career in 1985 as a lawyer. Ismail Sabri graduated from the Faculty of Law at the University of Malaya. After completing his education, Sabri started his career as a lawyer in 1985. His work in politics led him to become the head of information at the UMNO Temerloh Branch. He was appointed as Member of Temerloh District Council in 1987 and Member of the Temerloh Municipal Council in 1996.
In 1995, he was appointed Political Secretary to the Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, Datuk Sabbaruddin Chik. He also was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Pahang Tenggara Board (DARA) in 1995 as well as the Malaysian Tourism Promotion Board in the same year. Before entering Parliament in 2004, Ismail Sabri served as Chairman of the National Sports Complex.
In 1987, he was appointed Member of the Temerloh Umno division committee. Then, in 1988, he was appointed as Temerloh UMNO Division Information Chief. In 1993, he was promoted to Head of Division Youth Movement, Deputy Head of Division (2001) and became Head of Temerloh UMNO Division in 2004. Ismail Sabri was elected to Parliament in the 2004 election, becoming the first member of the new seat of Bera. He was re-elected in 2008 election.
His political career at the UMNO skyrocketed when he was given several ministerial positions. Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi on 18 March 2008 announced Malaysia's new cabinet. Ismail Sabri Yaakob was one of the new faces in the Cabinet. As the new Minister of Youth and Sports, he replaced Azalina Othman who is the new Minister of Tourism. He had served as a Member of Parliament from Pahang since 2004. He was also minister for domestic trade, cooperatives, and consumerism in the era of Prime Minister Najib Razak (2009). Sabri also became minister for agriculture and agro-based industry in 2013-2015 and minister for regional and rural development in 2015-2018.
A member of the country’s ethnic Malay Muslim majority, Ismail is known to be very popular among the grassroots of the Malay. His ideology of Malay nationalism sparked public anger. He courted controversy on occasion with remarks criticised for fanning racial tensions. In 2015, Ismail Sabri sparked a firestorm of protest over his Facebook post urging Malay consumers to boycott the monopolising and profiteering Chinese businesses who discriminate non-Chinese entrepreneurs, arguing that it was necessary for Malays to exercise consumer power to prevent "profiteering" by the Malaysia's ethnic Chinese.
Ismail also sparked controversy when he proposed the establishment of a shopping center specifically selling electronic goods and information technology, which was peddled only by Bumiputera or Malay traders and other indigenous groups.
In 2019, while in opposition, he reportedly called on Muslims to wage “jihad” against the then-ruling coalition – which was ethnically diverse – and accused it of being anti-Islam.
On 4 November 2015, a photograph of Ismail Sabri having dinner at a seafood restaurant in Sandakan together with Beluran Umno chief Datuk James Ratib went viral. A plate of a dozen of turtle eggs on the dinner table was seen in the photo. Ismail denied consuming the turtle eggs, citing "health reasons". On 9 November 2015, Ismail claims that he was not aware of the law that prohibits the possession and consumption of turtle eggs.
Relatively low profile for most of his career, Ismail led UMNO in opposition for a year after the nationalist Malay party's shock defeat in the 2018 general election. When UMNO returned to power in February 2020 after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan coalition, Ismail Sabri Yaakob was appointed by his predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin , as one of the four Senior Ministers.
He rose to greater prominence during Muhyiddin’s 17-month administration. As defence minister, he gave daily briefings on the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. His political career got a further boost when Muhyiddin appointed him as deputy prime minister in July when the country was struggling hard to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
He is likely to face constant attacks from the opposition, and risks starting his term with damaged credibility as he was a key figure in overseeing the last administration’s widely criticised pandemic response.
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