As a young undergraduate from UPM, I would walk for four hours from Pekan Nabalu township in neighbouring Kota Belud to my village, Kampung Lokos.

With this he earned the same scholarship to do his Form Six at Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor (SMSS) Cheras, a governmental fully residential school.

Prior to his tertiary education while waiting for the results of his Higher School Certificate examinations, he served as a temporary teacher at SMK Tamparuli, Tuaran, Sabah, for five months.

In 1979, having successfully completed his Higher School Certificate, Tangau was accepted into University Pertanian Malaysia (UPM), Serdang Selangor, to do his bachelor's degree in Forestry Science.

For the next five years Tangau served as the Chief Executive Officer at the Institute for Indigenous Economic Progress (INDEP) Sabah, a think-tank set established by PDS.

The objective of INDEP was to engage Pasokmomogun community groups in Sabah in policy-making and assist UPKO party leaders in decision-makings.

Tangau also served as chairman of several federal agencies and state linked companies such as the Sabah Cultural Board (LKNS), Forest Plantation Development Sdn.

Due to this devastating defeat Tangau was requested by the party leadership to contest in the 1999 parliamentary general election, effectively thrusting him from backroom boy to mainstream politics.

In 2012 the deputy president post fell vacant when Datuk Wilfred Bumburing quit UPKO to join the Opposition Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

Tangau was elected the deputy president in October 2013, beating Datuk Dr Ewon Ebin, UPKO vice-president, with a slim majority.

In March 2014 the founding president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok stepped down, nearly 10 months after he lost the Penampang parliamentary seat in the last general election.

In the aftermath of 2018 general election, UPKO under his leadership decided to quit Barisan Nasional and joined the Pakatan Harapan-Warisan government bloc both federally and at the state, citing the popular aspiration for change.

[4] Tangau was appointed as nominated assemblyman to serve as Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah (Kadazandusun Murut/Non-Muslim bumiputera quota) in the Shafie Apdal cabinet and remained so until the coalition lost snap election in 2020.