Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Dato' Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob (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 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, and the only Prime Minister to serve without a deputy.

His education began in 1967 at Sekolah Kebangsaan Bangau, followed by Sekolah Menengah Air Putih in Kuantan in 1973, and Sekolah Menengah Teknik Kuantan in 1976.

He was a hawker when he was in primary school, selling limes on the roadside and fish at Pekan Sehari market, Temerloh.

After graduating from form six at Jaya Akademik, he continued his studies at the University of Malaya majoring in law in 1980.

The title of his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) thesis is "Treatment of political detainees in Malaysia" ("Layanan terhadap tahanan politik di Malaysia").

In 1985, Ismail began his legal career as a lawyer.

He was then appointed as a Member of the Temerloh District Council in 1987 and a Member of the Temerloh Municipal Council in 1996.

Following Ismail's appointment as a Member of the Temerloh Division UMNO Committee in 1987, he held several positions such as Temerloh Division UMNO Information Chief in 1988, Temerloh Division UMNO Youth Chief in 1993, and Temerloh Division UMNO Deputy Chief in 2001.

In 1995, he was appointed Political Secretary to the Minister of Culture, Arts and Tourism, 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.

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.

Before entering Parliament in 2004, Ismail Sabri served as Chairman of the National Sports Complex.

He was appointed as inaugural Bera Division UMNO Chief in 2004 following the border redelineation process for parliamentary constituencies.

Ismail Sabri was elected to Parliament in the 2004 general election, becoming the first MP for the new seat of Bera.

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.

Ismail Sabri was re-elected in 2008 general election, and was appointed in the third cabinet of former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Minister for Youth and Sports.

He served in the position from 2008 to 2009 for a year when Abdullah resigned as prime minister and was replaced by Najib Razak who switched Ismail Sabri to another ministerial portfolio.

In April 2009, under new Prime Minister Najib Razak Ismail became the Minister for Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism (2009–2013).

The Malaysia Competition Act of 2010 was introduced under Ismail's tenure to regulate competition in the private sector.

He also introduced the Menu Rakyat 1Malaysia (MR1M) program in 2011 that aims to help the people get food at affordable prices.

As of February 2012, 1,314 food premises across the country were participating in the program.

After the 2013 general election, in which Ismail retained his parliamentary seat, he was appointed as the Minister for Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry (2013–2015).

Ismail's ministry has introduced the 'Jihad Against the Middlemen' (Malay: Jihad Memerangi Orang Tengah) initiative which aims to eliminate the role of middlemen in the agriculture sector.

Produce from the three agriculture sub-sectors, namely paddy, fisheries, and vegetables and fruits, are marketed directly to consumers through various platforms including Paddy Purchasing Center (Pusat Belian Padi), Fishermen's Market (Pasar Nelayan), Farmers' Market (Pasar Tani), and Agrobazaar Kedai Rakyat.

Public Service Department of Malaysia claims that the income of crop farmers, fishermen, and livestock producers have increased as a result of this initiative, while consumers can obtain fresh products at lower prices than those offered in the public market (pasar awam).

Ismail Sabri was appointed as the Minister of Rural and Regional Development (2015–2018) after July 2015 cabinet reshuffle.

Ismail's ministry launched Rural Urbanization (Malay: Membandarkan Luar Bandar) initiative in November 2015 to address people's needs and wants while keeping the rural development process on track.

To encourage the younger generation to continue living and building their future in rural areas, basic rural infrastructure is expanded, particularly in underserved areas such as Sabah and Sarawak, as well as rural areas in peninsular Malaysia, including Orang Asli areas.

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.

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. 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.

Ismail Sabri was born in Temerloh, Pahang, Malaysia.

His parents are Yaakob Abdul Rahman and Wan Jah Wan Mamat who were originally from Kelantan.

His father worked as a rubber tapper.