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.[1]
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.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7]
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.[8] 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.[9]
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.[10] He then contested the Pintasan state seat during the September 2020 Sabah state election under USNO Baru[11] 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.[12] Pandikar was officially elected party president in February 2021 and remains in the position as of 2023.[13]