Linda Tsen Daniel Isidore Stanislaus Kinsik Johnny Juani Mositun Hendrus Anding Ruslan Muharam Peter Mak Almudin Kaida Joseph Lee Han Khyun Mursid Mohd Rais
The United Sabah Party or formerly known as United Sabah Movement[3] (Malay: Parti Bersatu Sabah or formerly Gerakan Sabah Bersatu[4]; abbrev: PBS)[5] is a political party of Sabah. PBS had been recognized by the people of Sabah as historical local party since 1985. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985[6] and it is Sabah's oldest local party.[7] PBS is also the one of eight major component parties that formed the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), a Sabah-based official political coalition since 2022.[8][9]
Since 2022, the PBS acts as an allied partner, providing confidence and supply to the ruling federal Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition as part of GRS. PBS is a major component of the Sabah-based Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) state governing alliance since 2022.
History
PBS official logo since 1985 (logo above is being remastered in 2020)
PBS later formed the state government after winning the May 1985 state elections.[10][11] Following the 1986 Sabah riots after winning the 1986 state election,[12] PBS joined the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and governed Sabah from 1985 to 1994.[11][13] 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.[11][13][14] 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 although PBS won a third term in the elections and was able to form a short-lived state administration that lasted for a week as a result of the defections which led to Pairin's resignation as Chief Minister.[11][14] 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.[15][16]
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.[26][9]
Ideology and support base
Although it is mainly seen as an ethnically-based Kadazan-Dusun political party, PBS calls itself a "Malaysian multi-racial political party".[27][28] 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.[29][30] It also seeks preserving the traditional culture of each race in Sabah and freedom of religion in Malaysia.[31]
