THE recent Sabah state elections delivered a result that many in Peninsular Malaysia may find uncomfortable, but which Sabahans have been signalling for years: parties parachuted in from the Peninsula, regardless of ideology or branding, remain structurally disadvantaged in a political environment driven by state identity, local patronage and deep distrust of external political agendas.
The wipe-out of both DAP and Bersatu in Sabah has been interpreted through vastly different internal narratives, but the truth is starkly consistent. Sabahans were not voting against individual leaders. They were voting against parties that have failed to matter locally.
For DAP, the loss of every seat was a reaffirmation of a structural reality. Despite pockets of urban support, DAP has never embedded itself in Sabah’s broader political economy. It lacks the rural networks, the local brokers and the cultural foothold that define successful Sabah-based coalitions. Crucially, DAP understood this. The party did not descend into theatrics or internal rebellion. It treated the defeat as the predictable consequence of a challenging terrain, not as evidence of failed leadership.
Bersatu Sabah’s response could not have been more different. Within hours of PN’s loss—winning just one seat—factions demanded that Muhyiddin Yassin resign as party president. The swiftness of the assault revealed its true motivation. This was not accountability. It was opportunism.
Bersatu Sabah has been fractured since its leaders defected to GRS in 2022. What remains is a small, internally divided contingent grappling for relevance. Casting Muhyiddin as the scapegoat provides a convenient route for factional players to reposition themselves, secure influence and revive their bargaining power. The result becomes a pretext for a power play, not a strategic reassessment.
But the argument that Muhyiddin caused PN’s defeat collapses under the weight of political reality. Sabahans have consistently resisted Peninsular dominance. No West Malaysian leader—whether Muhyiddin, Hamzah or Azmin—would have substantially shifted the outcome. The Sabah electorate evaluates parties not by their national figureheads but by their local presence, autonomy credentials and ability to navigate Sabah’s deeply entrenched political networks.
Blaming Muhyiddin therefore misdiagnoses the problem. It also distracts from the real issue: Bersatu has failed to articulate a Sabah identity or establish genuine roots in the state. Leadership change cannot resolve a structural deficit.
The real lesson from this election is straightforward. Sabah punished irrelevance. It punished parties that sought to compete without local grounding. It punished Peninsular parties attempting to shape Sabah politics from afar.
DAP accepted this with political maturity. Bersatu Sabah turned it into a proxy war. Only one of these responses suggests a party that understands the electorate it claims to represent.
Until Peninsular parties confront the hard truth that Sabah rejects political intrusion—not just particular leaders—they will continue to lose. And no amount of internal manoeuvring in Kuala Lumpur will change that.
–BTSMedia.my
