Datuk Seri Panglima Stephen Robert Evans (1935–2017) SPDK, JP was a politician, public administrator and author from

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 ...

. Evans was born in Kampong Bariawa Laut, a small village populated by ethnic Dusun people predominantly of the Bundu-Liwan tribe in

Keningau District The Keningau District () is an administrative district in the Malaysian state of Sabah, part of the Interior Division which includes the districts of Beaufort, Keningau, Kuala Penyu, Nabawan, Sipitang, Tambunan and Tenom. The capital of the d ...

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, (present-day Sabah). The territory of North Borneo wa ...

(now Sabah) and was a Eurasian of mixed Dusun (of the Kwijau tribe from another part of Keningau district known as Bingkor hailing from the village of Kampung Bandukan Lama) and British descent. His father was Richard F. Evans, a colonial District Officer and later

Resident Resident may refer to: People and functions * Resident minister, a representative of a government in a foreign country * Resident (medicine), a stage of postgraduate medical training * Resident (pharmacy), a stage of postgraduate pharmaceut ...

of the

West Coast Division West Coast Division () is an administrative Divisions of Malaysia, division of Sabah, Malaysia. It occupies the northwest portion of Sabah. With an area of 7,588 square kilometres, it occupies 10.3% of Sabah's territory. It also has approximate ...

for the

North Borneo Chartered Company The North Borneo Chartered Company (NBCC), also known as the British North Borneo Company (BNBC), was a British chartered company formed on 1 November 1881 to administer and exploit the resources of North Borneo (present-day Sabah in Malaysia) ...

administration, which ruled North Borneo until the 1942

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ese invasion in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

who intermarried a local native woman from the said village.

Education

Evans studied in a Japanese

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

in Keningau during the occupation. After the war ended, he furthered his secondary education in several Catholic mission schools at

Sandakan Sandakan () formerly known at various times as Elopura, is the capital of the Sandakan District in Sabah, Malaysia. It is the second largest city in Sabah after Kota Kinabalu. It is located on the Sandakan Peninsula and east coast of the sta ...

Kuching, Sarawak Kuching ( , ), officially the City of Kuching, is the capital and the most populous city in the state of Sarawak in Malaysia. It is also the capital of Kuching Division. The city is on the Sarawak River at the southwestern tip of Sarawak on th ...

as well as in

Jesselton 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 th ...

(now Kota Kinabalu). He attended universities in

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and

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, gaining B.Sc. and MA degrees in Public Administration and Diplomas in Journalism and Agriculture. In 1966, he was awarded a Columbo Plan Scholarship from the

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Government to study Public Administration and Local Government.

Political career

Evans had a distinguished career as a politician in Sabah. He served as a Member of Parliament from 8 August 1974 to 1 June 1977, and a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from 15 December 1977 to 20 June 1978. He was re-elected as an MP from 15 July 1978 until 29 March 1982. In 1986, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly, serving from 5 May 1986 until 26 June 1990. Evans was awarded a PGDK, Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (second class Datukship: Datuk) by the State Government in 1977 and in 1989 he was conferred the State's highest award, SPDK, Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu (first class Datukship: Datuk Seri Panglima). Evans also served as a Justice of the Peace, and was a life member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Malaysian Parliamentary Association. He authored several books, and twice won the Borneo Literature Bureau's Literature Competition. He was a polyglot politician, being fluent in English (his first language), Malay (especially his native Sabahan dialect) as well as his adoptive cum maternal ethnic native Dusunic languages (both the Bundu-Liwan standard language as well as his matrilineal indigenous Kwijau dialect) and also his district's main native indigenous language of Murut.

Death

Evans died on 27 September 2017 at the age of 82.

Musa Aman Musa bin Aman (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: موسى بن حاج أمان; born 30 March 1951) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 11th Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah since January 2025. He served as the 14th Chief Minister of Sabah from M ...

, Sabah's chief minister, called on the family residence to pay his last respects.

Bibliography

* ''Guide for Sabah Native Courts'' (1967) Kuching: Borneo Literature Bureau * ''Further Folktales from Sabah'' (1977) Kuching: Borneo Literature Bureau * ''English for students preparing for the Malaysia Certificate of Education the Cambridge School Certificate and General Certificate of Education Examinations'' (1988) Keningau, Sabah: Stephen R. Evans * ''Sabah (North Borneo) Under the Rising Sun Government'' (1990, reprinted 1999) Singapore: Stephen R. Evans ('The Author's Profile' in this book has provided much of the material for this article; large parts of Evans' book are copied word-for-word from ''Kinabalu Guerillas'' by Maxwell Hall (1949)) * ''The History of Labuan Island (Victoria Island)'' (1996) Stephen R. Evans, Abdul Rahman Zainal and Rod Wong Khet Ngee. Singapore: Calendar Print

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Stephen R. Kadazan-Dusun people 2017 deaths 1935 births Justices of the peace People from Keningau District Multilingual writers Malaysian people of English descent Members of the Dewan Negara Members of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly Grand Commanders of the Order of Kinabalu Commanders of the Order of Kinabalu Malaysian MPs 1974–1978 Malaysian MPs 1978–1982