Representatives in the 2008 election and was appointed a Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government. He was previously a member of the Malaysian Senate. He served as the Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities and Deputy Minister of Housing and Local Government in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak from March 2008 to the defeat of BN in the 2018 general election in May 2018. He has also served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Larut since March 2008. Presently he is a member of the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU) and its 3rd Secretary-General since March 2020, a component party of the ruling PN coalition and he also serves as its 1st Secretary-General since August 2020. He was a member of the then-ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component party of the BN coalition. He subsequently resigned from UMNO to join BERSATU in December 2018. In 2020, when the Pakatan Harapan government crumpled due to Mahathir Mohamad's sudden resignation after trying to eradicate those who are involved in the Sheraton Move but failed. He was elected as the Home Minister by the newly appointed Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in Muhyiddin cabinet. He then retained as the Home Minister in Ismail Sabri cabinet. Controversies and issues Divorcing his first wife In 2004, he was asked to pay his first wife Nooraini Rashid RM11.2 million in settlements for allegedly divorcing her to marry a much younger woman. In 2007 however, the Syariah Appeals Court allowed for his appeal to not pay his ex-wife. Anwar was sued for allegedly harassing his second wife In August 2008, former best friend and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, filed a defamation suit against him seeking RM10 million in damages over Hamzah’s allegations that Anwar had harassed his wife in 1998. Hamzah allegedly made the remark when campaigning during the Permatang Pauh by-election in August 2008, which subsequently saw Anwar’s return to parliament after a 10-year absence. Intervention in PDRM In 2021, he was caught having a phone conversation with the soon-to-retire inspector-general of police (IGP) to allow him to internally transfer staffs and also enable him to have over certain jurisdiction of Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) which will indirectly interfere with the operation. At the IGP's last week in office, Abdul