Civil service Before becoming a Member of Parliament, Bung Moktar served with the Sandakan
Special Affairs Department (JASA) branch office from 1987 to 1990, and later worked for the
Majlis Amanah Rakyat from 1990 to 1992.
Politics Bung Moktar was initially a member of the
United Sabah National Organisation (USNO), serving as the Youth Chief of its
Kinabatangan division from 1979 to 1990. He retained this role when the party became the Sabahan branch of the
peninsular-based
UMNO, and later became Sabah UMNO's Youth Information Chief. From 1994 to 1999, he served as
Political Secretary to the Minister of Finance of Sabah . In 1996, he became the Division Chief of Kinabatangan. He first stood as a candidate in the
1994 Sabah state election for
Kuamut, an opposition stronghold at that time, and lost. He stood in the
1999 general election and became the member of parliament for Kinabatangan. He retained the seat in the
2004,
2008,
2013,
2018, and
2022 general elections. Over the course of his political career, Bung Moktar earned a reputation for controversy. His
gaffes have been popularly referred to as "bung-le"s. In 2008, he referred to opposition politician
Karpal Singh as a "big monkey" after Singh referred to him as "
Bigfoot" in response to Bung Moktar interrupting him. He also called on Karpal, who was a
paraplegic, to "Stand up if (he) dare!". The pair offered an apology for their statements but were rejected by Fong, who considered them insincere. and was declared "unacceptable" by
Holger Michael, a German ambassador to Malaysia. In 2018, when opposition member
Willie Mongin alleged that he had visited a casino, Bung Moktar responded: The incident became an
internet meme focusing on the combination of
Malay language and Bung Moktar's
broken English. Previously just a parliamentary backbencher at the federal level, Bung Moktar entered state politics following
Barisan Nasional and UMNO's defeat in the
2018 general election, whereupon the party suffered from crippling high-level defections. He took over and restructured the party in Sabah, and was credited with saving the party. He led the party through the
2020 Sabah state election, taking part in the formation of the subsequent government. He simultaneously served as one of three deputy chief ministers as well as minister of works. The crisis concluded when five UMNO assemblymen defected to Hajiji's coalition, allowing Hajiji to remain in power. Bung Moktar and UMNO shifted to opposition. He led the party into the
2025 Sabah state election, where it won five seats. It was included in the state government formed by Hajiji. He retained his state seat of
Lamag with a majority of 153 votes. == Personal life ==