Pandikar Amin Mulia

Pandikar Amin bin Mulia (Jawi: ڤنديكر أمين بن مليا; born 17 September 1955) is a Malaysian politician who has served as President of United Sabah National Organisation (New) (USNO Baru) since February 2021. He served as 8th Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat from April 2008 to April 2018, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department from December 1999 to November 2002, State Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Sabah from May 1997 to March 1999, State Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports of Sabah from March 1994 to May 1997, Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Tempasuk from 1994 to 1999 and again from March 2004 to March 2008, Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Usukan from 1982 to 1985 as well as a former cum founding President of the People's Justice Front (AKAR) from 1989 to 1995. He is also the first Sabahan, East Malaysian and also ethnic Bajau Iranun to hold the office of the Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat.

Early background
Pandikar Amin was born in a remote village in Kota Belud, Sabah to ethnic Bajau Iranun farmer parents who were of poor backgrounds and started primary schooling in his hometown. Prior to going to England for tertiary education, he received education at Sabah College in Kota Kinabalu, a prestigious elite secondary school of the state. He was a graduate of Wolverhampton Polytechnic and Lincoln's Inn.

USNO
Pandikar Amin entered politics in 1982 as a member of United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and later picked as the Barisan Nasional (BN) parliamentary candidate for Kota Belud in 1982 general elections but lost to an Independent candidate. At the age of 27, however he became Sabah state assemblyman for Usukan, holding for one term from 1982 to 1985. He was then later appointed as the first non-MLA Speaker of Sabah State Legislative Assembly from 1986 to 1988.

AKAR
Pandikar with some other fellow dissident United Sabah Party (PBS) comprising a few several Dusun and Bajau ethnic-based leaders namely Mark Koding and Kalakau Untol formed the People's Justice Front (AKAR) in 1989. In 1999, he was appointed a Senator and Minister in the Prime Minister's Department until 2002. He was president of AKAR, a now-defunct Sabahan political party which joined as one of the Barisan Nasional component parties from Sabah, at that time. The party was then dissolved to enable its members to join the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in 2002.

UMNO and Speakership in the Dewan Rakyat
Pandikar, as a member of UMNO was elected again Sabah assemblyman from 2004 to 2008; for the Tempasuk seat in Kota Belud. After the 2008 general elections, the BN coalition government announced that Pandikar, a non-MP would be the new Speaker, replacing Ramli Ngah Talib.

The 12th Parliament was the first to be presided over entirely by East Malaysians; Pandikar and his deputies, Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and Ronald Kiandee, hail from either Sabah or Sarawak. In mid-May, after Parliament convened, Pandikar resigned as Kota Marudu UMNO divisional chief, citing the need to be a neutral, non-partisan presiding officer of the legislature. He denied his resignation was linked to possible party-switching amongst UMNO MPs from East Malaysia.

Ahead of the 2018 general elections, Pandikar announced his intention to contest, thus enable his possible prospect to be a more active federal-elected politician after serving as a non-MP Speaker for two terms. Somehow he was not picked as candidate to contest the elections that saw the downfall of BN in both the federal and state governments. Despite his appointment to the UMNO's supreme council later on 14 July 2018; he decided to quit UMNO on 12 December 2018 along with other Sabah UMNO assemblymen to be independents.

USNO Baru
Pandikar then later joined a newly revived Sabahan political party known as the USNO Baru and was appointed as the chairman of the party's Strategic Advisory Council in July 2019. He then contested the Pintasan state seat during the September 2020 Sabah state election under USNO Baru but he together with all the party's candidates in other state seats they contested were defeated in cornered fights with candidates from rival parties and/or coalitions. Pandikar was officially elected party president in February 2021 and remains in the position as of 2023.

Honours

 * 🇲🇾 Malaysia :
 * Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - SSM.svg Companion of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (JSM) (1993)
 * Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia - PSM.svg Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (2002)


 * Federal Territory (Malaysia) :
 * MY-FED Darjah Mahkota Wilayah - Grand Knight - SUMW.svg Grand Knight of the Order of the Territorial Crown (SUMW) – Datuk Seri Utama (2009)
 * Penang :
 * MY-PEN Order of the Defender of State - Knight Grand Commander - DUPN.svg Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Defender of State (DUPN) – Dato' Seri Utama (2013)
 * Sabah :
 * MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - PGDK.svg Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (PGDK) – Datuk (1994)
 * MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - SPDK.svg Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (SPDK) – Datuk Seri Panglima (2010)