The United Sabah National Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Sabah Bersatu; abbrev: USNO) was a political party in

North Borneo North Borneo (usually known as British North Borneo, also known as the State of North Borneo) was a British Protectorate, British protectorate in the northern part of the island of Borneo, which is present day Sabah. The territory of North Borneo ...

and later

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 widely known Sabah's

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 ...

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

especially Suluk-

Bajau The Sama-Bajau include several Austronesian ethnic groups of Maritime Southeast Asia. The name collectively refers to related people who usually call themselves the Sama or Samah (formally A'a Sama, "Sama people"); or are known by the exonym ...

ethnic based party was founded by the third

Chief Minister 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 Nasiona ...

; Mustapha Harun in December 1961. Prior to the

formation of Malaysia The Malaysia Agreement or the Agreement relating to Malaysia between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak and Singapore (MA63) was the agreement which combined North Borneo, Sarawak, ...

on 16 September 1963, USNO played a major role in cooperation with

United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation The United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation ( ms, Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu; abbrev: UPKO) is a multiracial political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. The party was rebranded from its previous party's name, United Pasokmomogun Ka ...

(UPKO), led by

Donald Stephens Donald E. Stephens (March 13, 1928 – April 18, 2007) was the first village president (mayor) of Rosemont, Illinois, US. He was also a leading Illinois Republican politician. Stephens, born in Chicago, is believed to have been the longest-se ...

, and the Federation of Malaya, in attaining independence from the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. UPKO was then dissolved and merged into USNO in 1967. The party came into power after winning the 1967 state election. USNO remained in power until 1975 under Mustapha's leadership, and until 1976 under

Mohammad Said Keruak Tun Mohammad Said bin Keruak (15 November 1925 – 17 November 1995) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 7th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah from January 1987 to December 1994 and 4th Chief Minister of Sabah briefly from November 1975 ...

's leadership. In 1975, USNO's secretary-general

Harris Salleh Harris bin Mohd Salleh (born 4 November 1930) is a Malaysian politician who served as the 6th Chief Minister of Sabah from June 1976 to April 1985. During his tenure, he controversially ceded the island of Labuan, which used to be part of stat ...

quit the party and teamed up with former UPKO leader Stephens who had become Sabah

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and had returned to politics to create a new party called

Sabah People's United Front Sabah People's United Front or in Malay ''Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah'' is more commonly known by its abbreviation BERJAYA, was a political party based in the state of Sabah, Malaysia. BERJAYA was formed by former United Sabah National Orga ...

(BERJAYA). This new party defeated USNO in the 1976 state election to form government until 1985. USNO consistently continued to participate in state elections of 1981, 1985, 1986, and 1990, winning several state electorates, however never enough to form government again. After the 1990 state election when BERJAYA themselves were ousted by

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 ...

(PBS), Mustapha returned to team-up with Harris again in a merger of USNO and BERJAYA for his long-envisaged initiative to create the Sabah chapter of

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

-based

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 in ...

(UMNO) with Mustapha himself became its first chief of UMNO Sabah. In 1996, USNO was finally de-registered by the federal Registrar of Societies (RoS). Six of its legislators joined the Sabah UMNO while the rest joined the opposition PBS.James Chin, 31

General election results

State election results

See also

References

Further reading