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 Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. BERJAYA was formed by former

United Sabah National Organisation The United Sabah National Organisation (; abbreviation, abbrev: USNO) was a political party in Crown Colony of North Borneo, North Borneo and later Sabah, Malaysia. The widely known Sabah's Muslim Orang Asal, indigenous especially Tausūg peopl ...

(USNO) secretary-general

Harris Salleh Tan Sri Dato' Sri 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 ceded the island of Labuan, which used to be part of ...

who was later joined 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 ...

, who served as the first

Chief Minister of Sabah The chief minister of Sabah is the head of government of Sabah, Malaysia. Since September 2020, the position has been held by Hajiji Noor from the Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan Rakyat) from the coalition of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) w ...

as well as president of the United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation (UPKO). Stephens became the fifth Chief Minister after BERJAYA won the 1976 state election in April but died in June the same year, being succeeded by Salleh. The party had been a partner of

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

(BN), the then ruling coalition of Malaysia since its inception on 15 July 1975. BERJAYA governed the state of Sabah for 8 years from 1976 to 1985 after it won the 1976 state election and ousted USNO, Fuad was installed as Sabah's fifth Chief Minister, his second time holding the post. He replaced

Mohammad Said Keruak 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 to ...

of USNO. However, barely 44 days after becoming Chief Minister, Fuad died in a plane crash in

Kota Kinabalu Kota Kinabalu (; formerly known as Jesselton), colloquially referred to as KK, is the state capital of Sabah, Malaysia. It is also the capital of the Kota Kinabalu District as well as the West Coast Division of Sabah. The city is located on the ...

on 6 June 1976, known as the Double Six Tragedy. Along with him, several other state ministers also perished, including Datuk Peter Joinod Mojuntin, who was the Minister of Local Government and Housing. Harris then took over his post, becoming the sixth Chief Minister of Sabah. In the 1981 state election, BERJAYA again won, this time with an overwhelming majority. They won 44 out of 48 seats contested. In 1984, party member Joseph Pairin Kitingan left the party to form Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS). This newly formed party defeated BERJAYA in the 1985 state election. In the 1990 state election, BERJAYA's support has evidently dwindled as they failed to win a single seat in the election and it was ousted by

United Sabah Party The United Sabah Party or formerly known as United Sabah Movement (; Abbreviation, abbrev: PBS) 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 Josep ...

(PBS). The party then effected a merger with USNO to form the Sabah chapter of the

Peninsular A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . ...

-based

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Abbreviation, abbrev: UMNO; , PEKEMBAR) is a Conservatism, conservative, Nationalism, Malay nationalist political party in Malaysia. As the oldest national political party in the country (since its ince ...

(UMNO). USNO's president Tun

Mustapha Harun Datu Mustapha bin Datu Harun, or Tun Mustapha for short (31 July 1918 – 2 January 1995), was a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as the 3rd Chief Minister of Sabah from May 1967 to November 1975 and the 1st Yang di-Pertua Nege ...

became Sabah UMNO's first president, while Harris became an adviser to the party.

History

On 23 April 1975, Mustapha Harun, chief minister of Sabah from the USNO party, announced a memorandum named "The Future Position of Sabah in Malaysia" where he argued that Sabah would be economically better if Sabah exists as an independent country. Malaysia's federal government decided to sponsor the formation of a new party named BERJAYA with Harris Salleh, former dissident vice-president of USNO as its founder. The federal government also persuaded Fuad Stephens, the governor of Sabah at that time, to resign from the governorship and join Harris in fighting against USNO. Both BERJAYA and USNO were within the

(BN) governing coalition at the federal level but BERJAYA became the opposition at the state level, opposing USNO. The rivalry of the two parties ended in 1976 Sabah state election when BERJAYA emerged victorious against USNO.

History

Election results

See also

References

Further reading