Lajim Ukin (15 June 1955 – 29 August 2021) was a Malaysian politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Beaufort constituency 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 has land borders with the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and Indonesia's North Kalima ...

from 2008 to 2013, the Deputy Minister of Transport from 2008 to 2009, and the Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government from 2009 to 2012; in the federal Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government. Lajim previously served as Deputy Chief Minister of Sabah for three terms from 1999. He was also the Leader of the Opposition in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (2013–2016). Lajim was the

Malaysian United Indigenous Party The Malaysian United Indigenous Party ( Malay: ''Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia''; abbrev: BERSATU or PPBM) is a nationalist political party in Malaysia. The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia ( Malay: ) and ...

(BERSATU) supreme council member and also Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) executive chairman at the time of his death in 2021.

Political career

Before entering federal politics, Lajim was a prominent figure in Sabah state politics. He was a member of the United Sabah Party (PBS) before defecting to

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) in 1994. He later served as Deputy Chief Minister in the Sabah government. Lajim was elected to Parliament in the 2008 election, as a member of the

(UMNO) in the seat of Beaufort. Percentage figures based on total turnout (including votes for candidates not listed). He was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister for Transport, moving to the portfolio of Housing and Local Government in 2009. In July 2012, he renounced his official positions in UMNO to align himself with the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition. This resulted in the revocation of his appointment as a deputy minister. He recontested his parliamentary seat of Beaufort in the 2013 election on a People's Justice Party (PKR) ticket, but was defeated. While losing his federal seat, he won the election for the Sabah State Legislative Assembly seat of Klias. He became the leader of the opposition in the State Assembly. On 2 October 2016, Lajim resigned from PKR along with two other

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

(PH) assemblymen. He has stated his intention to form a new Sabah-based party and ally with the former Sabah UMNO leader,

Shafie Apdal Mohd Shafie bin Apdal (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: محمد شافعي بن أفضل; born 20 October 1957) is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Semporna (federal constituency), Semporna since ...

. He later decided to establish a separate party from Shafie, known as Sabah People's Hope Party (PHRS), which was finally approved by Registrar of Societies (RoS) on 25 October 2016. PHRS was dissolved to let its party members be absorbed into

(BERSATU) in 2019. After being absorbed, he became BERSATU Sabah Election Director before being appointed a BERSATU Supreme Council member for the term 2019 to 2022. Lajim is also known to default on his promises. After commissioning a ghostwriter to write a book about the history of his political party, he failed to deliver on his promises to pay the writer and printing costs, leaving the writer in debt with unsold books. This is thought to be one of the factors that eroded the voters' confidence in the ruling coalition that his party belongs to, culminating in the results of 2020 Kimanis by-election, which saw the opposition coalition BN win, defeating the three-way coalition containing PH, which incorporates BERSATU.

Personal life

Lajim was married to Normilah Siong. The couple divorced sometime later. In early 2017, Lajim was injured after falling from a train car on the way to attend a wedding. He was then referred to a local

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

(TCM) practitioner or ''"sinseh"'' and was advised to rest for one week. In 2021, Lajim was screened and tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

at Gleneagles Hospital Kota Kinabalu on 1 August before his admission to KPJ Sabah Specialist Hospital on 13 August. With a history of chronic illnesses, including a kidney transplant and heart ailment, he was later placed under an induced coma after his health deteriorated on 24 August afternoon. On 29 August at 6.23 am, Lajim aged 66 died due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

complications. His remains were brought to his hometown at Kampung Kebatu Beaufort for last rites and burial.

Election results

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

* : ** Companion of the Order of the Defender of the Realm (JMN) (1996) * : ** MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - PGDK

Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (PGDK) – Datuk (1989) ** MY-SAB Order of Kinabalu - SPDK

Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (SPDK) – Datuk Seri Panglima (1998) * : ** MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca

Knight Commander of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DCSM) – Datuk Wira (2010)

References