| Country: | Malaysia |
| United Sabah Party | |
| Native Name: | Parti Bersatu Sabah |
| Lang1: | Malay |
| Name Lang1: | Parti Bersatu Sabah ڤرتي برساتو سابه |
| Lang2: | Chinese |
| Name Lang2: | 沙巴團結黨 沙巴团结党 Shābā tuánjiédǎng |
| Abbreviation: | PBS |
| President: | Maximus Ongkili Joachim Gunsalam |
| Chairperson: | Claudius Alex Sundang |
| Secretary General: | Julita Majungki |
| Leader1 Title: | Deputy Presidents |
| Leader1 Name: | Joachim Gunsalam Yee Moh Chai Jahid Jahim |
| Leader2 Title: | Women Chief |
| Leader2 Name: | Malianah Ugau |
| Leader3 Title: | Youth Chief |
| Leader3 Name: | Christopher Mandut |
| Leader4 Title: | Vice-Presidents |
| Leader4 Name: | Linda Tsen Daniel Isidore Stanislaus Kinsik Johnny Juani Mositun Ruslan Muharam Peter Mak Almudin Kaida Joseph Lee Han Khyun Mursid Mohd Rais |
| Leader5 Title: | Treasurer-General |
| Leader5 Name: | Lu Kim Yen |
| Leader6 Title: | Information Chief |
| Leader6 Name: | Julita Mojungki |
| Founder: | Joseph Pairin Kitingan |
| Split: | Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA) |
| Slogan: |
|
| Headquarters: | Blok ‘M’, Lot 4, Tingkat 2 & 3, Donggongon New Township, Donggongon, 89507 Penampang (Peti Surat 13060, 88834 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah) |
| Youth Wing: | Youth Section |
| Wing1 Title: | Women's wing |
| Wing1: | Women Section |
| Membership Year: | 2022 |
| Membership: | 580,000[1] |
| Position: | Centre-right |
| Colours: | Light blue and green |
| Anthem: | Bersatu Dalam PBS |
| Symbol: | |
| Flag: | Flag_of_Parti_Bersatu_Sabah.png |
| Seats1 Title: | Dewan Negara |
| Seats2 Title: | Dewan Rakyat |
| Seats2: | (Sabah and Labuan seats) |
| Seats3 Title: | Sabah State Legislative Assembly |
| Seats4 Title: | Chief ministers in Malaysia |
The United Sabah Party (Malay: Parti Bersatu Sabah, abbreviated PBS)[2] is a political party of Sabah. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985[3] and it is Sabah's oldest local party.[4] In August 2020, PBS confirmed that they would be using their own logo and flag until Sabah's local coalition is established under Registrar of Societies (RoS).[5] In 2022, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) is the only Sabah's local coalition that has been successfully registered under the Registrar of Societies (RoS) making PBS interested in using the coalition's logo and becoming part of the coalition's component.[6] [7]
Since 2022, the PBS acts as an allied partner, providing confidence and supply to the ruling federal Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. It is a major component of the Sabah-based Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state governing alliance.
PBS was registered as a political party on 5 March 1985. Its founding President is Joseph Pairin Kitingan who had broken away from the ruling Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah (BERJAYA) because of his differences with the Chief Minister of Sabah and party president, Harris Salleh in whose state cabinet Pairin served before the break-up.[8] BERJAYA itself had ousted the previous state government of United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) to govern Sabah for 8 years from 1976 to 1985.[9] [10]
PBS later formed the state government after winning the May 1985 state elections.[8] [9] Following the 1986 Sabah riots after winning the 1986 state election,[10] PBS joined the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and governed Sabah from 1985 to 1994.[9] [11] However, on the eve of the July 1990 state elections, PBS pulled out of the BN to join the Gagasan Rakyat (GR) coalition and won the state election for a third time.[9] [11] [12] It also won the 1994 state elections by a narrow margin. However, numerous defections occurred as many PBS representatives switched allegiance to the then opposition BN coalition before PBS was even able to form a new state government.[9] [12] PBS subsequently rejoined the BN coalition in 2002, ending any form of opposition as BN fully occupied the state legislature and returning Sabah to the rule of the BN coalition that also holds the federal parliament.[13] [14]
Following the fall of both federal and state BN governments in the 2018 general election (GE14), PBS left the coalition and formed a new Sabah-based informal coalition of parties known as the United Alliance (Sabah) or Gabungan Bersatu (Sabah)[15] and also the succeeding United Sabah Alliance or Gabungan Sabah Bersatu.[16] During the 2020–21 Malaysian political crisis later, PBS has become allied partner providing confidence and supply to the new ruling federal government Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition set-up by prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin.[17] On 12 September 2020, PBS joined the Hajiji Noor re-formed Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) or Sabah People's Alliance just before the 2020 Sabah state election[18] which was won eventually by the GRS to form the state government.[19] As a result, PBS has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of both the PN and GRS pacts separately.[17] [20] However, PBS expressed that they will stick to their own logo and flag until the actual local coalition is established under the RoS in the next and subsequent elections.[14] [21] [22] [23]
In 2022, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) is the only coalition that has been successfully registered under the Registrar of Societies (RoS) making PBS interested in using the coalition's logo and becoming part of the coalition's component. Since 2023, PBS officially become the major component of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and one of the founding parties of the coalition.[24] [7]
Although it is mainly seen as an ethnically-based Kadazan-Dusun political party, PBS calls itself a "Malaysian multi-racial political party".[25] [26] Members are mostly of Kadazan-Dusun (from both the Dusunic plus Paitanic ethnolinguistic groups) and Murut (including the Lundayeh subgroup) ethnic descent, though the second and third largest ethnic membership are mostly Muslim Bumiputeras, mostly ethnic local Sabahan based ethnic Malay race (Bruneian Malays and Cocos Malays), and also from the Bajau community of peoples (the second-largest ethnic Bumiputera in the state including the Iranun subgroup and some Suluk together with the Chinese, alongside those of mixed-race or Sino-Native subgroup of the Chinese minority). Its declared political mission is to strive to safeguard Sabah's autonomy and state rights, promoting democratic principles, economic advancement, human rights and a fair justice system.[27] [28] It also seeks preserving the traditional culture of each race in Sabah and freedom of religion in Malaysia.[29]
Among the most vocal issues voiced by the party were the issue of illegal immigrants along with '
Since 1994 major defections from PBS, several political parties with similar ideologies have emerged. The closest one is the STAR Party, founded by Datuk Dr. Jeffrey G. Kitingan, the younger brother of the former president of PBS, Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Other similar parties include Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah.
See main article: Members of the Dewan Rakyat, 15th Malaysian Parliament. PBS has currently only 1 MP in the House of Representatives.
| State | No. | Parliament Constituency | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P190 | Lo Su Fui | PBS | |||
| Total |
See main article: List of Malaysian State Assembly Representatives (2022–present).
Sabah State Legislative Assembly
| State | No. | ParliamentaryConstituency | No. | State Assembly Constituency | Member | Party | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P168 | Kota Marudu | N05 | PBS | ||||||
| N07 | PBS | ||||||||
| P170 | Tuaran | N14 | PBS | ||||||
| N15 | PBS | ||||||||
| P178 | Sipitang | N34 | PBS | ||||||
| P179 | Ranau | N36 | Joachim Gunsalam | PBS | |||||
| P183 | Beluran | N47 | Jonnybone J Kurum | PBS | |||||
| Total | |||||||||
| Election year | Malaysia Parliament | Sabah State Assembly | Outcome | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Seats won | Candidates | Seats won | |||
| 1985 | - | - | 45 | 25 seats; Sabah state governing coalition | ||
| 1986 | - | - | 47 | 9 seats; Sabah state government Snap election | ||
| 1986 | 14 | - | - | 10 seats; Federal governing coalition | ||
| 1990 | - | - | 48 | 2 seats; Sabah state government | ||
| 1990 | 14 | - | - | 4 seats; Federal opposition coalition | ||
| 1994 | - | - | 48 | 11 seats; Sabah state government | ||
| 1995 | 28 | - | - | 6 seats; Federal opposition | ||
| 1999 | - | - | 48 | 6 seats; Sabah state opposition | ||
| 1999 | 17 | - | - | 5 seats; Federal opposition | ||
| 2004 | 4 | 13 | 1 seat; Federal governing coalition 4 seats; Sabah state governing coalition | |||
| 2008 | 4 | 13 | 1 seat; Federal governing coalition 1 seat; Sabah state governing coalition | |||
| 2013 | 5 | 13 | 1 seat; Federal governing coalition 5 seats; Sabah state governing coalition | |||
| 2018 | 5 | 13 | 3 seat; Federal opposition coalition 1 seat; Sabah state opposition coalition | |||
| 2020 | - | - | 22 | 1 seat; Sabah state governing coalition Snap election | ||
| 2022 | 4 | - | - |
| ||
| State election | State Legislative Assembly | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total won / Total contested | |||||||||||||||
| 2/3 majority | |||||||||||||||
| 2016 | |||||||||||||||
| 2018 | |||||||||||||||
| 2020 | |||||||||||||||