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1994 Sabah state election
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All 48 seats in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly; 25 seats needed for a majority
Chief Minister before election; Joseph Pairin Kitingan; GR-PBS	Elected Chief Minister ; Joseph Pairin Kitingan; GR-PBS

The 1994 Sabah state election was held between Friday, 18 February and Saturday, 19 February 1994. Nomination day was 7 February 1994. The election was one of the most controversial election in Sabah's political history. The election was won by the incumbent ruling party (although the opposition at federal level) Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), winning 25 state electorates against 23 won by the federal government's ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.^[2]

Background

The Assembly were dissolved by Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah Said Keruak on advice from Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan on 9 January 1994, 16 months before the Assembly term of 5 years expire, paving the way to a snap election.^[3]

PBS has ruled Sabah for almost 9 years since winning the 1985 Sabah state election, winning 3 state elections including 1985, and also were in Barisan Nasional from 1986 until exiting the BN in 1990 and joined opposition pact Gagasan Rakyat with DAP.

Contesting parties

Before the election, PBS had already produced 2 splinters, SAPP (which were only formed 3 weeks before on 21 January, and contesting for the first time) and AKAR (formed in 1989, and have contested in 1990 state and federal elections), both which had contested under BN banner. LDP would also contest under BN.

This was the first Sabah state election to feature peninsula-based party United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). UMNO Sabah was born of the merger between United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) and Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA) in 1991, as a party to counter PBS influence in Sabah.

Other parties contesting included SETIA, BERSEKUTU, DAP (a partner of PBS in Gagasan Rakyat but is contesting in 2 seats against PBS), PAS and independent candidates. SETIA however, through its president Suhaidin Langkap on the eve of the election announced all 14 of its candidates withdrawal from contesting and changing their support for BN, although the candidates name were still on the ballot list.^[4]

Results


Party or alliance				Seats	+/–
	United Sabah Party (PBS)			25	–9
	Barisan Nasional (BN)		United Malays National Organisation (UMNO)	18	New
			Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)	3	New
			Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)	1	+1
			People's Justice Front (AKAR)	1	+1
		Total		23	+23
	United Democratic Sabah People's Power Party (SETIA)			0	New
	Federated Sabah People's Front (BERSEKUTU)			0	New
	Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)			0	New
	Democratic Action Party (DAP)			0	0
	Independents			0	0
Total				48	0

Aftermath

As per stated above, PBS won the election by a tight margin. PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan was sworn in as chief minister of Sabah, his fourth time, on 21 February 1994, together with the state EXCO members.^[5] However, less than a month later, as a result of defections by elected PBS assemblymen to BN, Pairin was forced to resign on 17 March 1994,^[6]^[7] and PBS was forced out of power, resulting in BN forming government in Sabah.^[8] Sakaran Dandai, leader of UMNO and BN in Sabah, was sworn in as the new Chief Minister on the same day.^[9]

Bernard Dompok, the former PBS vice-president, formed Parti Demokratik Sabah (PDS) with 18 assemblymen (PDS later changed name to UPKO). Joseph Kurup left PBS and formed Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS). Jeffery Kitingan, Pairin's brother, also left PBS and joined Angkatan Keadilan Rakyat (AKAR). All of these parties stated their support to BN, and later joined BN. As a result of these defections, PBS was left with 5 seats.

The outcome of this election and the defections resulted in the term katak being coined in, the literal meaning of which is "frog", due to the actions of PBS members "jumping" to another political party.^[10]

CM rotation system

After BN regains power in Sabah, it introduced Chief Minister rotation system between Muslim bumiputera, Non-Muslim bumiputera, and Chinese leaders for two year tenure each. This was one of the promises of BN during the election campaign. Sakaran only become CM for less than one year before resigning and accepting the Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sabah role on 1 January 1995; Salleh Said Keruak replaced him. Yong Teck Lee of SAPP then becomes CM from 1996 to 1998, before Bernard Dompok took the CM role from 1998 to 1999, when the Sabah Assembly was dissolved to make way for the state election on February that year.

References

^ The count includes seats won by UMNO, SAPP and LDP, the component parties of BN.
^ "Victory by a whisker". news.google.com. 20 February 1994. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
^ Bingkasan, Joseph; Bangkuai, Joniston (10 January 1994). "Sabah dissolves Assembly". news.google.com. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
^ "Parti Setia's candidate Kiwon wages lonely war as colleagues abandon field". news.google.com. New Straits Times. 19 February 1994. p. 5. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
^ Joniston Bangkuai (22 February 1994). "Pairin sworn in as CM". p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
^ "Historical Background". Archived from the original on 2013-04-15. Retrieved 2013-05-22.
^ Kalimullah Hassan (18 April 1994). "The only honourable thing to do". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 21. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
^ Kalimullah Hassan (18 November 2007). "OPINION: Reforms yes, but not through violence in the streets". New Straits Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 18 January 2008.
^ Kalimullah Hassan (18 April 1994). "New Sabah leader sworn in". The Straits Times. eresources.nlb.gov.sg. p. 1. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
^ Ung, Ho Chin (1999). Regime change and regime maintenance in Asia and Pacific - Discussion paper No 24 - "Kataks", Kadazan-Dusun nationalism and development: The 1999 Sabah state election (PDF). Australia: The Department of Political and Social Change - Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies The Australian National University. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2018. Retrieved 10 May 2018. The more prominent Kataks prior to the elections are listed below