[3] Born in Hospital Besar Kuala Lumpur and raised in Selangor, Isham is the third child of seven siblings and was brought up in a low-income family.
His father had to juggle various jobs to make ends meet where he had worked as a gardener, truck driver and night market trader to raise his family.
[5] Isham has nearly 20 years of shared experience working in the civil service and the government-linked company, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB).
[6] In 2008 he was sent to the Economic Planning Unit, Prime Minister's Department to help the government enact national energy policies, especially those involving petroleum, electricity and gas.
[7] During his time working at the civil service, he has been involved in the formulation of the 10th Malaysia Plan, the National Energy Policy 2010–2030, the subsidy rationalization program, and the restructuring of the country's electricity industry.
From Astro Awani's three way dialogue with Bachok MP Syahir Sulaiman and Sunway University Professor Wong Chin Huat, Isham has stated that:[19] I've said why meritocracy is not fair in Malaysia, why?
[20] He believes that in order to regain confidence and relevance, BN should have not joined with either coalitions PH or PN but instead continued in parliament as a separate independent block that could provide check and balance as a credible opposition.