1 Parti Negara Sarawak and Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak merged to form Parti Bumiputera Sarawak. 2 Parti Bumiputera Sarawak consisted of local Sarawak Malay, Melanau, Kedayan, Brunei Malay and Orang Ulu members. 2 Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak consisted of Iban and Bidayuh members.
The United Bumiputera Heritage Party (Malay: Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu; abbrev: PBB) is a political party in Malaysia. It is currently the largest political party in Sarawak. Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu was formed from the combination of three parties in Sarawak; Parti Negara Sarawak, Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak and Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak. The formation of the party was for the purpose of the improvement of the livelihood and protect the rights of the Bumiputera in many fields such as politics, economy and social. Formerly a part of Semenanjung-based coalition Barisan Nasional (BN), following the defeat of BN in the 2018 general election and in the aftermath of a meeting between all Sarawak-based BN coalition parties on 12 June 2018, PBB left the coalition to form a new Sarawak-based coalition, Sarawak Parties Alliance.[1]
Bumiputera is a Malaysian political term and translates to son of earth. Being mentioned in the party's name, this directly relates to the ethnic groups that are seen as native to the state of Sarawak. Members of the party are solely of Sarawak Bumiputera ethnicity. In article 161a of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, 21 ethnic groups are classified as "rakyat peribumi Sarawak" (natives of Sarawak), among these are the Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus, Orang Ulus and several other Dayak people, as well as local Muslim-Malays of Sarawak.
PANAS which was formed on 9 April 1960 by Datu Patinggi Abang Haji Mustapha, was the second political party to be formed after Sarawak United People's Party.[2]
Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak was formed in Sibu in August 1962 to cater for the Ibans of Batang Rajang. Its promoters refused to join the Sarawak National Party, which they claimed only catered for Ibans from Saribas.
Among the initiators of the party were Penghulu Masam Anak Radin, Pengarah Banyang, Penghulu Chundi Anak Resa and Penghulu Umpau. Temenggong Jugah, Temenggong Oyong Lawai Jau and Jonathan Bangau joined later. While Jugah and Oyong Lawai Jau were incipiently members of PANAS, Bangau was from SUPP. Other Penghulus from other divisions such as Penghulu Tawi Sli (Second Division) and Penghulu Abok Anak Jalin (Bintulu) also joined PESAKA. PESAKA was therefore known as the Penghulus’ Party. However, the person who actually mooted the idea of forming PESAKA was Thomas Kana, a former dresser at Kuala Belait. He was made the first secretary-general of the party.
Formation of Parti Bumiputera
To ensure the domination of Muslim Bumiputra in Sarawak politics, PANAS and BARJASA initiated a plan of merger a few months after the local council elections of Sarawak in 1963. Initially, both parties were willing to dissolve themselves in order to allow United Malays National Organisation to enter Sarawak. However, UMNO was not interested in accepting non-Muslim-Malay bumiputeras as members. Therefore, the Malaysian federal government recommended that the two parties combine to form a new separate party. After a series of negotiations, Parti Bumiputera Sarawak was formed on 30 March 1968. On the following day after the merger, Abang Ikhwan Zaini was elected as the president of Parti Bumiputera, Tuanku Haji Bujang as vice-president, and Taib Mahmud as the secretary-general of the party.[3] According to Sanib Said (former curator of Sarawak State Museum):
The formation of Parti Bumiputera was gratefully accepted by the Muslim-Malays of Sarawak. Except for a few prominent dissenters, especially some of the former members of PANAS, the new party was supported by both the aristocrats and the young intelligentsia, the latter holding the more important posts in it. It may be justifiably said that at last the young intelligentsia had triumphed. But basically the formation of Parti Bumiputera was a final reconciliation between the two groups and it opened the way for a new era of Malay politics in Sarawak.[3]
Parti Bumiputera exercised a significant role in the Sarawak cabinet under the leadership of Sarawak chief minister Tawi Sli. Taib Mahmud dominated most of the decision making. Parti Bumiputera and Sarawak Chinese Association were the members of Sarawak Alliance. During the 1970 Sarawak state election, Parti Bumiputera won 12 seats while SCA won 3 seats out of a total of 48 seats. However, not a single party command a majority in Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly). Abdul Rahman from Parti Bumiputera was able to convince SUPP to form a state government with him as the chief minister.[3]
Formation of PBB
Parti Bumiputera had already initiated negotiations with PESAKA about the merger of both parties in 1968. However, PESAKA refused to enter into a merger in fear that Muslim bumiputera members from Parti Bumiputera would dominate the new party, leaving its Iban and Bidayuh members sidelined. PESAKA decided to join Sarawak Alliance without a merger to preserve their interests in Sarawak politics. However, in the 1970 state election, PESAKA won only 8 seats, whereas 12 seats were won by Parti Bumiputera and another 12 seats by SNAP. PESAKA was not able to nominate a new chief minister from their own party unlike in 1966. Ultimately another negotiation was held between PESAKA and Parti Bumiputera in September 1972 and both sides eventually agreed to a merger on 5 January 1973. The new Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu party was then officially registered on 30 April 1973.[3]
BUMIPUTERA wing which consisted of Muslim-Malay, Melanau, Kedayan, Brunei-Malay, Jatti Mereik, and Orang Ulu members
PESAKA wing which consisted of Iban, Bidayuh, Kenyah, and Kelabit members
Objectives of PBB
To protect and defend Malaysia's independence, sovereignty, and character.[3]
To uphold both the federal and state constitution.
To combating against corruption, racism, illegal money laundering, and political power abuse among all party's members.
To protect and defend the principles enshrined in the federal and state constitution, especially on position, fundamental rights, and special privileges of Bumiputera.
To protect and guarantee the future rights of bumiputera.[3]
To develop all Sarawakian, specifically, and also all Malaysian, generally, in all various fields, mostly in education, politics, financial, economic & trades, social, public safety, youth & women communities, cultures & arts, and sports.
To promote and protect the feeling of harmony and unity spirits of all Sarawakians towards creating a strong united region in Sarawak.
To promoting the harmonious, peaceful, safe and prosperous Malaysia to all around the world.
To protect the rule of parliamentary democracy.
To protect, strengthen, and giving justice for the region of Sarawak, as based on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
To support and defend the United Nation's charter.
To take effective steps in eradicating subversive movements which could compromise Malaysia's security.[3]
General Assembly (similar to UMNO General Assembly)
Supreme Council (similar to UMNO Supreme Council)
Branches (set up in each state constituencies in Sarawak, similar to UMNO divisions which is set up in each parliamentary constituency in Malaysia except for the state of Sarawak.)
Sub-branches (similar to UMNO branches)
Each level will have its own youth and women wings
The party's general assembly is held every 3 years to assemble all party leaders and grassroot members to discuss party policies, responsibility of Supreme Council, and to elect party leaders into Supreme Council but does not influence party directions and policies. The party constitution was amended so that "the party's system of representation of at general assemblies in line with the system used by UMNO". Therefore, a chairman will be in-charge of the general assembly, allowing the party president take an active role during the assembly. The party's first ever general assembly was held from 13 to 14 July 1974, less than a month before the 1974 Malaysian general election. All the party's top posts were not contested at that time. In this general assembly, Abang Abu Bakar and Salleh Jafaruddin (Rahman's nephew) from bumiputera wing were elected to the party's executive committee. Alfred Jabu Numpang, from PESAKA wing was also elected to become youth chief of the party. He would later become deputy chief minister of Sarawak under the chieftainship of Taib Mahmud.[3]
Deputy Yang di-Pertua (also known as Deputy president)
Vice-Yang di-Pertuas (also known as vice-presidents, consisted of 9 people)
Secretary-general
Deputy secretary-general
Assistant secretary-general (5 people)
Treasurer
Assistant treasurer
Publicity chief
Assistant publicity chief
Appointed executive committee members (11 people)
Elected executive committee members (20 people)
During the formation of PBB, both Parti Bumiputera and PESAKA agreed to elect a PESAKA leader to become the president of the party. The party had 7 vice-presidents instead of the current 9 members. 4 vice-president posts will be given to Bumiputera wing while 3 will be given to PESAKA wing. The secretary-general post will be given to Bumiputera wing while assistant secretary-general posts will be divided among Bumiputera wing (1 person) and PESAKA wing (3 people). The rest of the party posts were given to Bumiputera wing while youth chief post will be given to PESAKA wing.[3]
After the formation of PBB, Temenggong Jugah Anak Barieng was appointed as the first president of the PBB while Taib Mahmud was appointed deputy president and Abdul Rahman Ya'kub was appointed the secretary-general of the party. In September 1975, Abdul Rahman suddenly announced his retirement from politics due to criticisms to his administration of the Sarawak state. Few weeks later, Temenggong Jugah also announced his retirement as the president of PBB. In October 1975, Taib Mahmud was appointed to the president of PBB to fill the vacancy left by Temenggong Jugah while Leonard Linggi, the son of Temenggong Jugah, was appointed to the secretary-general post, replacing Abdul Rahman. However, Abdul Rahman remained as the executive member of PBB and the leader of Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN). Alfred Jabu moved his rank to the deputy president post while Celestine Ujang fill the youth chief post left vacant by Alfred Jabu.[3]
Two months later, Abdul Rahman changed his mind while he announced that he would not retire in the next five years. Abdul Rahman decided to take over the PBB presidency from Taib. For Taib, this was a dilemma but all the other party posts have been occupied. Taib demanded his uncle Abdul Rahman to create another deputy president post for him by changing the party constitution. Finally during the 1977 PBB general assembly meeting, another deputy president post was created and given to Taib while Abdul Rahman became the president of the party.[3]
Rahman retired from politics on 26 March 1981 and his nephew Taib Mahmud succeeded him as the PBB president for the second time. After holding the post for 33 years, Taib Mahmud retired from politics while allowing his former brother-in-law, Adenan Satem to take over the party on 1 March 2014 and he would hold the post until his death on 11 January 2017.
Chin, James. 2003: The Melanau-Malay Schism Erupts Again: Sarawak at the Polls. In: New Politics in Malaysia. Lok Kok Wah / Johan Saravanamuttu, Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies (ISBN981-230-169-0), pp. 213–227
James Chin. “The More Things Change, The More They Remain The Same”, in Chin Kin Wah & D. Singh (eds.) South East Asian Affairs 2004 (Singapore: Institute of South East Asian Studies, 2004)
James Chin. “Autonomy: Politics in Sarawak” in Bridget Welsh (ed) Reflections: The Mahathir Years, (Washington DC: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004) pp. 240–251
