Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Ismail Sabri Yaakob
اسماعيل صبري يعقوب
Sabri in 2022
Ismail Sabri in 2022
9th Prime Minister of Malaysia
In office
21 August 2021 – 24 November 2022
MonarchAbdullah
DeputyNone
Preceded byMuhyiddin Yassin
Succeeded byAnwar Ibrahim
15th Leader of the Opposition
In office
12 March 2019 – 24 February 2020
Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad
Preceded byAhmad Zahid Hamidi
Succeeded byAnwar Ibrahim
Vice President of the
United Malays National Organisation
In office
30 June 2018 – 18 March 2023
Preceded byAhmad Zahid Hamidi
Succeeded byWan Rosdy Wan Ismail
Ministerial portfolios
2008 – 2009Youth and Sports
2009 – 2013Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism
2013 – 2015Agriculture and Agro-based Industry
2015 – 2018Minister of Rural and Regional Development
2020 – 2021Minister of Defence
2020 – 2021Senior Minister
2021Deputy Prime Minister
Parliamentary offices
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Bera
Assumed office
21 March 2004
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority
Personal details
Born
Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob

(1960-01-18) 18 January 1960 (age 64)
Temerloh, Pahang, Federation of Malaya
Political partyUnited Malays National Organisation (UMNO) (since 1987)
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
(m. 1986)
Children4
Alma materUniversity of Malaya (LLB)
Signature
Websiteismailsabri.my

Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob (Jawi: اسماعيل صبري بن يعقوب; born 18 January 1960) is a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2021 to 2022. He is both the shortest-serving prime minister (served for 15 months) and the shortest-serving deputy prime minister (served for 40 days). He is also the first prime minister born after the independence of Malaya, the first former Leader of the Opposition to become prime minister, the only prime minister who did not hold the highest position of the governing party or coalition, and the only prime minister to serve without a deputy.[1][2][3]

A Member of Parliament (MP) for Bera since 2004, Ismail is the Division Chief of Bera of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. He also served as the vice president of UMNO from June 2018 to March 2023. As of a result of the ongoing 2020–21 Malaysian political crisis, he was formally appointed and sworn in as prime minister on 21 August 2021 following the resignation of his predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin.[4]

Ismail served in several cabinet positions in the BN administration under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak, from March 2008 to its 2018 general election loss.[5] He was the 15th Leader of the Opposition in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration from March 2019 to its collapse in February 2020 amid the 2020 Malaysian political crisis. In the PN government, he was prominent in the country's response to the COVID-19 pandemic in his roles as Senior Minister for Security, and later during a 40-day stint as Deputy Prime Minister. He led a faction of his party (UMNO) that continued supporting Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in June 2021, when the party withdrew its support over the government's handling of the pandemic. After this culminated in the collapse of the government and Muhyiddin's resignation, he successfully entered negotiations to become prime minister in August 2021 after garnering the support of the most MPs.[1][6] As Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri lifted the Movement Control Order following the expansion of the vaccination programme and oversaw the Twelfth Malaysia Plan.

Ismail Sabri has attracted controversy for his comments in support of ethnic Malay pre-eminence in Malaysia.[7][8][9]

  1. ^ a b Wai, Wong Chun (20 August 2021). "Ismail Sabri picked as ninth PM". The Star. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Malaysia's king appoints Ismail Sabri as prime minister". Reuters/Astro Awani. 20 August 2021. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
  3. ^ Sipalan, Joseph; Azmi, Hadi (24 November 2022). "Malaysia election 2022: Anwar Ibrahim named PM, swearing in at 5pm". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  4. ^ Anand, Ram (21 August 2021). "Ismail Sabri Yaakob sworn in as Malaysia's new prime minister". The Straits Times. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
  5. ^ "Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, Y.B. Dato' Sri" (in Malay). Parliament of Malaysia. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  6. ^ "Malaysian MPs backing Ismail Sabri as next PM meet with the king to verify their support". CNA. Retrieved 19 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Malays will never perish even if Umno loses, assures DAP leader". Today. 13 April 2018. Retrieved 13 April 2018.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference :8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).