He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) major component party in the previous governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
[2] In the 2008 general election, Abdul Manan contested the Paya Besar parliamentary constituency, replacing former government minister Siti Zaharah Sulaiman as UMNO's nominee for the seat.
[2] Abdul Manan won the seat, defeating Mohd Jafri Ab Rashid of the People's Justice Party (PKR) by an 8,503 majority.
[3] In 2010 he was appointed chairman of the Intellectual Property Corporation of Malaysia, and in 2013 general election he retained his parliamentary seat with a margin of 7,715 votes.
[5] On 30 June 2020, High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan has allowed the prosecution’s application to forfeit at least RM265,000 frozen in a bank account belonging to Abdul Manan, to the Malaysian government.