The United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu;
abbrev: UPKO) is a multiracial
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...
based in
Sabah
Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
The party was rebranded from its previous party's name, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation using the same UPKO acronym; which was a widely known
Kadazan-Dusun
Kadazan-Dusun (also written as Kadazandusun or Mamasok Kadazan-Dusun) also less-known as "Mamasok Sabah" are two indigenous peoples of Sabah, Malaysia—the ethnic groups Kadazan and Dusun. The Kadazandusun is the largest native group of Bu ...
-
Murut Murut may refer to:
* Murut people
The Murut are an indigenous ethnic group, comprising 29 sub-ethnic groups inhabiting the northern inland regions of Borneo. The Murutic languages are a family of half a dozen closely related Austronesian lan ...
based party in 2019.
The party had earlier been renamed once before in 1999 from its initial 1994 formation name of
Sabah Democratic Party
The Sabah Democratic Party ( ms, Parti Demokratik Sabah; abbrev: PDS) was a political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. It was an ethnically-based party striving to voice the rights and advance the development of Kadazan-Dusun- Murut (KDM) popula ...
.
In August 2021, UPKO has officially joined the
Pakatan Harapan
The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...
(PH) coalition as a component party.
History
Sabah Democratic Party
The party started as
Sabah Democratic Party
The Sabah Democratic Party ( ms, Parti Demokratik Sabah; abbrev: PDS) was a political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. It was an ethnically-based party striving to voice the rights and advance the development of Kadazan-Dusun- Murut (KDM) popula ...
(''Parti Demokratik Sabah'' or PDS) which was founded by
Bernard Giluk Dompok
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Bernard Giluk Dompok (born 7 October 1949) is a Malaysian politician who served as Ambassador of Malaysia to the Holy See from March 2016 to June 2018, Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities from April 2 ...
and other detractors who split from
United Sabah Party
The United Sabah Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Sabah, abbreviated PBS) is a political party of Sabah. The PBS was founded by Joseph Pairin Kitingan in 1985 and it is Sabah's oldest local party. In August 2020, PBS confirmed that they would be usin ...
(''Parti Bersatu Sabah'' or PBS) soon after the
Sabah state election in March 1994 to join the
Barisan Nasional
The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 ...
(BN) coalition.
PBS had earlier won a majority in the
Sabah State Legislative Assembly
The Sabah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah, Kadazandusun: ''Langga' Tinukuan Pogun Sabah'') is a part of the legislature of Sabah, Malaysia, the other being the governor of Sabah. The assembly meets at the Sabah Sta ...
then but with the two breakaway factions setting their own spliter new parties of PDS by Dompok and another
United Sabah People's Party
The United Sabah People's Party ( ms, Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah; abbreviated: PBRS) is a minority political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. Presently PBRS is being led by its founding and first President; Joseph Kurup. PBRS is officially a c ...
(''Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah'' or PBRS) by
Joseph Kurup
Tan Sri Datuk Seri Panglima Joseph Kurup (born 15 December 1944) is a Malaysian politician who served as 1st and founding President of the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS), a component party of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition from March 1 ...
had caused the crumble of PBS new Sabah government and allowed BN to form the government instead. Part of the enticement offered by BN to the defectors was the promise of a rotating
Chief Ministers of Sabah
The Ketua Menteri Sabah or Chief Minister of Sabah is the head of government of the Malaysian state of Sabah. Since September 2020, the position has been held by Hajiji Noor from the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (BERSATU), Perikatan Nasion ...
post, which Dompok held from 1998 to 1999. The defection from PBS however damaged the party at the
1995 federal election, in which it won no seats.
United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation
PDS was renamed as United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) or ''Pertubuhan Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Bersatu'' on 8 August 1999, taking the same acronym of the now defunct original
United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation
The United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Kadazan Bersatu; abbrev: UPKO) was a Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) based political party in North Borneo and later Sabah at the time it became a state of Malaysia in the 1960s. ...
, which was formed and dissolved in the 1960s by
Fuad Stephens
Muhammad Fuad Stephens, (born Donald Aloysius Marmaduke Stephens; 14 September 1920 – 6 June 1976) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 1st and 5th Chief Minister of Sabah from September 1963 to December 1964 and again briefly from ...
.
[ The name of the new UPKO includes the words "Kadazandusun" and "Murut", with a new logo of a ]silhouette
A silhouette ( , ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhou ...
of Mount Kinabalu
Mount Kinabalu ( ms, Gunung Kinabalu, Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran or Nulu Nabalu'') is the highest mountain in Borneo and Malaysia. With an elevation of , it is third-highest peak of an island on Earth, and 20th most prominent mountain in the worl ...
and was not a water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
as in the old UPKO logo.[ It was redefined as an ethnically-based party striving to voice the rights and advance the development of KDM populations of Sabah and the Orang Asli of ]Peninsular Malaysia
Peninsular Malaysia ( ms, Semenanjung Malaysia; Jawi: سمننجڠ مليسيا), or the States of Malaya ( ms, Negeri-negeri Tanah Melayu; Jawi: نڬري-نڬري تانه ملايو), also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, ...
.
The party won three federal seats at the 1999 election, and four at the 2004 as well as 2008 polls. In 2009, UPKO opened four divisions in Perak
Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
, seeking a foothold among local Orang Asli indigenous people. In the Malaysian general election, 2013
General elections were held in Malaysia on Sunday, 5 May 2013 to elect the members of the 13th Parliament. Voting took place in all 222 parliamentary constituencies, each electing one MP to the Dewan Rakyat, the dominant house of Parliament. ...
, the party was reduced from four to three federal seats and from six to four state assembly seats. Dompok lost his federal seat to the People's Justice Party
The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The ...
(PKR). The following year he resigned as the party's president, a position he had held for 20 years.
UPKO was one of the component parties in the Barisan Nasional
The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 ...
(BN) coalition which ruled Malaysia until 2018. The party's core Sabahan indigenous constituency includes many Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, while BN is, on a national scale, dominated by the United Malays National Organisation
The United Malays National Organisation ( Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its ...
, an overtly Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
-Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
party. While a member of the BN federal government, UPKO often spoke out about government policies affecting Christians. In 2013, the party's president Bernard Dompok distanced himself from Prime Minister Najib Razak on the contentious question of the use by Malaysian Christians of the word " Allah" to describe God. Najib had supported a government appeal to the High Court seeking to outlaw the word's use by a Christian newspaper; Dompok criticised the appeal and defended the right of Christians, especially indigenous Malaysians, to use the word.
UPKO also agitated, often against the national government of which it was a part, for tougher measures against illegal immigration in Sabah. In February 2012, UPKO succeeded in forcing the establishment of the Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah
The Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah was formed on 11 August 2012 to investigate the problems relating to citizenship and immigrants in the state of Sabah in Malaysia. The inquiry is closely related to Project IC, the al ...
. In the same year one of the party's federal parliamentarians, Wilfred Bumburing
Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Bumburing (born 2 December 1951) is a Malaysian politician. He is a member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly and a former Member of the Parliament of Malaysia for the seat of Tuaran, Sabah (2008–2013).
...
, quit UPKO and joined the opposition PKR in protest at what he considered to be government inaction on illegal immigration.
UPKO was an advocate for the repeal of the Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to:
* Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law
*Internal Security Act (Singapore)
* McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law
*Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, rename ...
, which for over 50 years permitted detention without charge in certain circumstances. The law was repealed in 2011.
In the 2018 general election, the party won only one federal seat and five state assembly seats. Following this, the party's acting president Madius Tangau announced that UPKO with five of their party state assembly seats members had left BN to form a coalition government with the Sabah Heritage Party
The Heritage Party ( ms, Parti Warisan or Warisan) is a multi-racial political party in Malaysia which was rebranded and renamed from the Sabah Heritage Party ( ms, Parti Warisan Sabah), a Sabah-based party led by Shafie Apdal formed earlier o ...
, alongside PKR, DAP and Amanah became a partner party for the Pakatan Harapan
The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...
(PH) coalition instead.
File:Parti PDS.gif, PDS logo (1994-1999)
File:United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation Logo.svg, UPKO logo (1999-2019)
United Progressive People of Kinabalu Organisation
The party was re-branded again as United Progressive People of Kinabalu Organisation or ''Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu'' while retaining its existing UPKO acronym on 23 November 2019.[ There is also a slight change in UPKO's logo with the inclusion of a new colour, red while the Mount Kinabalu image remains.][ The party re-branding process was aimed to migrate from the communal politics to a universal and inclusive politics by opening the party membership to other races than KDM communities.][ On 26 August 2021, it officially joined opposition ]Pakatan Harapan
The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the ...
coalition.
Leadership Structure
* President:
** Wilfred Madius Tangau
Datuk Seri Panglima Wilfred Madius Tangau (born 13 March 1958) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tuaran from November 1999 to March 2008 and again since May 2013. He served as the Deputy Chief Minist ...
* Deputy President:
** Donald Peter Mojuntin
Donald Peter Mojuntin (born 26 January 1965) is a Malaysian politician and lawyer who served as Senator from December 2018 to December 2021, Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Moyog from March 2008 to May 2013 and Member ...
* Vice-President:
** Ewon Benedick
Ewon Benedick (born 1 August 1983) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Minister of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperative in the Anwar Ibrahim Cabinet since December 2022, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Penampang since November 20 ...
** Gilbert Syam
** Pengiran Lalung
* Women Chief:
** Juliana Jani
* Youth Chief:
** Felix Joseph Sitin Saang
* Secretary-General:
** Nelson Angang
* Deputy Secretary-General:
** Wong Thien Fook
* Treasurer-General:
** Laurentius Nayan Ambu
* Deputy Treasurer-General:
** Sualim Gopog
* Information Chief:
** Joisin Romut
* Organising Secretary:
** -
* Supreme Council Members:
** Peter Jr Naintin
** Johnny Intang
** Miming Pornama
** Lawrence Odong
** Akuang Suan
** Sylvester Taing
** Basari Sarkun
** Conrad Wong
** Japari Kunin
** Carl Moosom
** Padis Majingkin
** Dennison R. Indang
** Raymond Jury
** Lawrence Jomiji
** William Sampil
** Kennedy John
* Executive Secretary:
** Jairaiaz Joseph
* State Liaison Officer:
** Perak: Suki Mee
Elected representatives
UPKO currently holds two seats in the federal House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
and one in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly
The Sabah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah, Kadazandusun: ''Langga' Tinukuan Pogun Sabah'') is a part of the legislature of Sabah, Malaysia, the other being the governor of Sabah. The assembly meets at the Sabah Sta ...
.
Dewan Negara (Senate)
Senators
* Sabah State Legislative Assembly
The Sabah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah, Kadazandusun: ''Langga' Tinukuan Pogun Sabah'') is a part of the legislature of Sabah, Malaysia, the other being the governor of Sabah. The assembly meets at the Sabah Sta ...
:
Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)
Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament
UPKO currently has 2 members in the Dewan Rakyat.
Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)
Sabah State Legislative Assembly
The Sabah State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Sabah, Kadazandusun: ''Langga' Tinukuan Pogun Sabah'') is a part of the legislature of Sabah, Malaysia, the other being the governor of Sabah. The assembly meets at the Sabah Sta ...
General election results
State election results
See also
* Politics of Malaysia
Politics of Malaysia takes place in the framework of a federal representative democratic constitutional monarchy, in which the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is head of state and the Prime Minister of Malaysia is the head of government. Executive power ...
* List of political parties in Malaysia
This is a list of political parties in Malaysia, including existing and historical ones.
Legislation
Under the current legislation, all political parties (termed "Political Associations") must be registered under the Societies Act.
Election e ...
* Sabah Democratic Party
The Sabah Democratic Party ( ms, Parti Demokratik Sabah; abbrev: PDS) was a political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. It was an ethnically-based party striving to voice the rights and advance the development of Kadazan-Dusun- Murut (KDM) popula ...
(PDS)
* United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation
The United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Kadazan Bersatu; abbrev: UPKO) was a Kadazan-Dusun-Murut (KDM) based political party in North Borneo and later Sabah at the time it became a state of Malaysia in the 1960s. ...
(UPKO) (Old)
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Political parties in Sabah
1964 establishments in Malaysia
Political parties established in 1994
Liberal parties in Malaysia
Ethnic political parties
Indigenist political parties