Lokman Noor Adam

Dato' Lokman Noor bin Adam (Jawi: ; born 1 Januari 1973), better known by the nickname Lobakman, is a politician who was appointed as the Head of the Media Secretariat of the Unity Government since 2023. He was also elected as a member of the Supreme Working Meeting (MKT) United Malay National Organization (UMNO) since 2023 and on 2018 to 2020, following his dismissal. He is an important figure for Reformasi in defending human rights and the freedom of Anwar Ibrahim. He has been detained under the ISA twice. On 15 July 2021, he was sentenced to one month in prison by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, after being found guilty of contempt of court for threatening the main witness Amhari Efendi in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal case involving former prime minister Najib Razak.

Early life and education
Lokman Noor bin Adam was born on 1 January 1973 in Batu Pahat, Johor, Malaysia. He has a Diploma in Siyassah Syarriah and Islamic leadership from Institut Pengajian Ilmu-ilmu Islam (now known as Islamic College of Science & Technology) and a Master's degree in Management (MMgt) from Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UNIRAZAK).

Early career in UMNO
Lokman Noor started getting involved in the political arena as early as the age of 15. He holds the record as the youngest Branch UMNO Youth Leader since he was 18 years old in 1991, being the Head of Umno Youth Branch Taman Kluang, Johor. He was appointed as the Secretary of the Culture and Arts Council of the Malaysian UMNO Youth Movement, the Rural Development Council Committee and the Malaysian UMNO Youth Science and Technology Council Committee (1996–1998).

At the beginning of his political career, he became Exco Youth of UMNO Malaysia, Chairman of the BN and UMNO Youth Speech Unit, BTN Rebranding Think Tank and Member of the UMNO Information Think Tank. However, he was fired from UMNO in 1998 for reprimanding Mahathir Mohamad, prime minister and UMNO president at the time about the Anwar Ibrahim sodomy case.

Reformasi and KeADILan fighter
After his dismissal, Lokman Noor became a fighter for the KeADILan and Reformasi wave from that moment on who was locked up eight times for leading a series of demonstrations defending the right to speak and assemble and fight for liberation of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

He was appointed as the first Johor KeADILan Youth Leader in 1999 and was elected as a member of the KeADILan Supreme Leadership Council in the party's first election. In 2004, he was fired from KeADILan for reprimanding the then KeADILan Youth Leader, Mohamad Ezam Mohd Nor.

Strengthening his position in UMNO
He rejoined UMNO in 2006 in UMNO Shah Alam Division and served as Shah Alam UMNO Youth Exco and Malaysian UMNO Youth Exco (2008–2013). He was also appointed as Chairman of the BN and UMNO Youth Speech Unit (2009–2013) BTN Rebranding Think Tank (2016), Member of Malaysia UMNO Information Think Tank (2016–2018), Special Affairs Department Think Tank (2010–2016), Director Communications, Ministry of Finance Malaysia (2016–2018) and President of New Malaysia Monitor (2018).

He has also held the position of Director of Viral Command Center JASA and KKMM. While being a JASA Thinker Panel for almost seven years, he performed the task of responding to current issues on behalf of the government through writing, producing infographics, videos, publishing neural stimulation materials in addition to delivering lectures on current issues, presenting working papers, being a forum panel and debate representing government to civil servants, political party machinery, NGOs, domestic and foreign students.

2018 Sungai Kandis by-election
Lokman Noor was selected by the component parties Barisan Nasional (BN) and the UMNO party as a candidate for the 2018 Sungai Kandis by-election. This election saw a three-cornered clash between the Pakatan Harapan (PH)–People's Justice Party (PKR), BN–UMNO and Independent candidates. PKR nominated Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni while BN–UMNO has placed Lokman Noor. An independent candidate Murti Krishnasamy also nominated himself on the nomination day. Mohd Zawawi Ahmad Mughni defeated Lokman Noor with a majority of 5,842 votes.

Malaysia Unity Government phase
He was reappointed as a Member of the Supreme Working Meeting (MKT) of UMNO on 17 February 2023. This statement was informed by the Deputy President of UMNO, Mohamad Hasan via phone call.

Around 2023, he was appointed as the Head of the Media Secretariat of the Unity Government by the Secretariat of the Unity Government of Malaysia led by Anwar Ibrahim. He also holds the position of UMNO Communications Director.

ISA detention twice
In 1998, Lokman Noor was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for 2 months, while in 2001 to 2003, he was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for two years and two months. He was also arrested eight times and detained under the ISA in 1998 for leading a demonstration to defend the right to speak and assemble to fight for Anwar Ibrahim who was sacked as deputy prime minister on allegations of corruption and sodomy. Whereas, in 2001, he was again arrested under the ISA and released in 2003.

Conflict with Khairy Jamaluddin
Lokman Noor and Khairy Jamaluddin clashed around 2018 because Lokman Noor defended former prime minister Najib Razak. This dispute caused Khairy to nickname Lokman Noor as "Lobakman". The name of this title comes from Khairy's Twitter account tweet against him in 2018 which called him having a low IQ like carrot. The post reads: “You better pray I dont become president of UMNO. First thing I'll do is sack you for having the IQ of a carrot."  However, in the UMNO 2018 election, Khairy lost to Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for the position of UMNO President while Lokman Noor won the position of Member of the UMNO Supreme Council of Malaysia.

Stripping of UMNO membership in 2020
On 2 January 2020, 7 UMNO Youth leaders filed a complaint and report to the UMNO Disciplinary Board and urged the party's Supreme Council to investigate Lokman Noor for violating party discipline.

They claimed that Lokman Noor at that time as a member had violated party discipline for disputing the decision made by the leadership regarding the investigation of the disciplinary board against the former Vice President Hishammuddin Hussein. In addition to the case related to Hishammuddin and criticism of Zahid, Lokman Noor has also publicly criticized the deputy president Mohamad Hasan and Umno Youth Chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

The seven UMNO Youth leaders who filed a complaint are Shah Zanuriman Nuar Paras Khan (Selayang UMNO Youth Leader), Mohd Alfie Zainal Abidin (Subang UMNO Youth Leader), Zulkifli Rajalie (Ampang UMNO Youth Leader), Ahmad Feardaus Daud (Youth Leader Gombak UMNO), Mohamad Syahir Mohd Yusof (Hulu Langat UMNO Youth Leader), Ashrul Ashryzad Mohd Nashri (Bandar Tun Razak UMNO Youth Leader) and Mohd Khairul Nizam Mohd Isa (Bukit Bintang UMNO Youth Leader). In addition to these seven youth leaders, a member of the Subang UMNO Youth committee, Izzat Zabir Sarif also made the same complaint.

On 7 February 2020, the UMNO Supreme Council issued a statement regarding the dismissal from the UMNO Supreme Council and dropping its membership. On 30 September 2021, Lokman Noor's application to rejoin UMNO was accepted by the party.

1MDB scandal
On 15 July 2021, Lokman Noor was sentenced to one month in prison by the High Court after being found guilty of contempt of court for threatening witnesses in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad case (1MDB) trial involving former prime minister Najib Razak.

On 29 September 2022, the prosecution asked the Court of Appeal to impose a heavier sentence on Lokman Noor.

Personal life
Lokman Noor married Nur Fazilah Ahmad Muhyidin and was blessed with 11 children (including three adopted children). Two of his adopted children are from Indonesia, while one is Rohingya.

Honour of Malaysia

 * Pahang :
 * MY-PAH_Order_of_the_Crown_of_Pahang_-_Knight_Companion_-_DIMP.svg Knight Companion of the Order of the Crown of Pahang (DIMP) – Dato' (2015)