The United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (; abbrev: UPKO) is a multiracial

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

based 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 ...

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 ...

. The party was rebranded from its previous party's name, United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation using the same UPKO acronym; which was a widely known

Kadazan-Dusun Kadazandusun (also written as Kadazan-Dusun or Mamasok) are the largest ethnic group in Sabah, Malaysia, an amalgamation of the closely related indigenous peoples, indigenous Kadazan people, Kadazan and Dusun people, Dusun peoples. "Kadazandus ...

- Murut based party in 2019. The party had earlier been renamed once before in 1999 from its initial 1994 formation name of Sabah Democratic Party. In August 2021, UPKO has officially joined the

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) coalition as a component party. It is one of the four component parties of the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition in

History

Sabah Democratic Party

The party started as Sabah Democratic Party (''Parti Demokratik Sabah'' or PDS) which was founded by Bernard Giluk Dompok and other detractors who split from United Sabah Party (''Parti Bersatu Sabah'' or PBS) soon after the Sabah state election in March 1994 to join the

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) coalition. PBS had earlier won a majority in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly then but with the two breakaway factions setting their own spliter new parties of PDS by Dompok and another United Sabah People's Party (''Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah'' or PBRS) by Joseph Kurup had caused the crumble of PBS new Sabah government and allowed BN to form the government instead. Part of the enticement offered by BN to the defectors was the promise of a rotating Chief Ministers of Sabah post, which Dompok held from 1998 to 1999. The defection from PBS however damaged the party at the 1995 federal election, in which it won no seats.

United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation

PDS was renamed as United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) or ''Pertubuhan Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Bersatu'' on 8 August 1999, taking the same acronym of the now defunct original United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Organisation, which was formed and dissolved in the 1960s 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 ...

. The name of the new UPKO includes the words "Kadazandusun" and "Murut", with a new logo of a

silhouette A silhouette (, ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouett ...

Mount Kinabalu Mount Kinabalu ( Dusun: ''Gayo Ngaran'' or ''Nulu Nabalu'', ) is the highest mountain in Malaysia and Borneo. With a height of , it is the third-highest peak of an island on Earth, the 28th highest peak in Southeast Asia, and 20th most prom ...

and was not a

water buffalo The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called domestic water buffalo, Asian water buffalo and Asiatic water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also kept in Italy, the Balkans ...

as in the old UPKO logo. It was redefined as an ethnically-based party striving to voice the rights and advance the development of KDM populations of Sabah and the

Orang Asli The Orang Asli are a Homogeneity and heterogeneity, heterogeneous Indigenous peoples, indigenous population forming a national minority in Malaysia. They are the oldest inhabitants of Peninsular Malaysia. As of 2017, the Orang Asli accounted f ...

Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia, historically known as Malaya and also known as West Malaysia or the Malaysian Peninsula, is the western part of Malaysia that comprises the southern part of the Malay Peninsula on Mainland Southeast Asia and the list of isla ...

. The party won three federal seats at the 1999 election, and four at the

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

as well as

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

polls. In 2009, UPKO opened four divisions in

Perak Perak (; Perak Malay: ''Peghok'') is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kel ...

, seeking a foothold among local

indigenous people. In the

Malaysian general election, 2013 Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysians, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regardless o ...

, the party was reduced from four to three federal seats and from six to four state assembly seats. Dompok lost his federal seat to the People's Justice Party (PKR). The following year he resigned as the party's president, a position he had held for 20 years. UPKO was one of the component parties in the

(BN) coalition which ruled Malaysia until 2018. The party's core Sabahan indigenous constituency includes many

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

, while BN is, on a national scale, dominated by the

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 ...

, an overtly

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

- Malay party. While a member of the BN federal government, UPKO often spoke out about government policies affecting Christians. In 2013, the party's president Bernard Dompok distanced himself from Prime Minister

Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...

on the contentious question of the use by Malaysian Christians of the word "

Allah Allah ( ; , ) is an Arabic term for God, specifically the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham. Outside of the Middle East, it is principally associated with God in Islam, Islam (in which it is also considered the proper name), althoug ...

" to describe God. Najib had supported a government appeal to the High Court seeking to outlaw the word's use by a Christian newspaper; Dompok criticised the appeal and defended the right of Christians, especially indigenous Malaysians, to use the word. UPKO also agitated, often against the national government of which it was a part, for tougher measures against illegal immigration in Sabah. In February 2012, UPKO succeeded in forcing the establishment of the

Royal Commission of Inquiry on illegal immigrants in Sabah Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal ...

. In the same year one of the party's federal parliamentarians, Wilfred Bumburing, quit UPKO and joined the opposition PKR in protest at what he considered to be government inaction on illegal immigration. UPKO was an advocate for the repeal of the Internal Security Act, which for over 50 years permitted detention without charge in certain circumstances. The law was repealed in 2011. In the 2018 general election, the party won only one federal seat and five state assembly seats. Following this, the party's acting president Madius Tangau announced that UPKO with five of their party state assembly seats members had left BN to form a coalition government with the Sabah Heritage Party, alongside PKR, DAP and Amanah became a partner party for the

(PH) coalition instead. File:United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation Logo.svg, Logo as the United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation

United Progressive People of Kinabalu Organisation

The party was re-branded again as United Progressive People of Kinabalu Organisation or ''Pertubuhan Kinabalu Progresif Bersatu'' while retaining its existing UPKO acronym on 23 November 2019. There is also a slight change in UPKO's logo with the inclusion of a new colour, red while the Mount Kinabalu image remains. The party re-branding process was aimed to migrate from the communal politics to a universal and inclusive politics by opening the party membership to other races than KDM communities. On 26 August 2021, it officially joined opposition

coalition.

Leadership Structure

Term 2023 – 2026
* Elders/Advisory Council Chair: **Wences Angang * Party Chairperson: **Fredoline Jominoh * Honorary President: ** Wilfred Madius Tangau * President: ** Ewon Benedick * Deputy President: ** Donald Peter Mojuntin * Vice-President: ** Pangiran Lalung ** Basari Sarkun ** Wong Thien Fook ** Laurentius Ambu ** Fairuz Bandar ** Gilbert Syam ** Selvester Taing * Women Chief: ** Mohina Sidom * Youth Chief: ** Felix Joseph Sitin Saang * Secretary-General: ** Nelson Angang * Deputy Secretary-General: ** Junsim Rumunzing ** Joisin Romut * Treasurer-General: ** Dennison R. Indang * Deputy Treasurer-General: ** Juliana Janni ** Carlye Lajimin * Information Chief: ** Peter Jr. Naintin * Deputy Information Chief: ** Jimmy Barukang * Organising Secretary: ** Carl Moosom * Deputy Organising Secretary: ** Rowindy Lawrence Odong * Supreme Council Members: ** Junik Bajit ** Joesey Limy ** Jamil Majingkin ** Fauziah Kudus ** Jubilin Kilan ** Marcel Tambud ** Mat Lunad Agok ** Macquel Sagundai George ** Condrad Wong ** Terence Lee Swee Hong ** Patrick Epin ** Benjamin Taine ** George Sidis Majamin ** Benjamin Talah ** Seheral Linus (Generasi Muda Chief) ** Jairaiaz Joseph ** Georgina George ** Rogers Tiam @ Aloysius ** Suki Mee ** Juin Tannyuh ** Vioery Bin Eming ** Alvin Lee * Executive Secretary: ** William Sampil * State Liaison Officer: ** Perak: Suki Mee

Elected representatives

UPKO currently holds two seats in the federal

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

and one in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly.

Dewan Negara (Senate)

Senators

* His Majesty's appointee: ** Nelson Wences Angang

Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)

Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament

UPKO currently has 2 members in the

Dewan Rakyat The Dewan Rakyat (; Jawi script, Jawi: ), is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Malaysia, Parliament which is the federal legislature of Malaysia. The chamber and its powers are established by Article 44 of the Constitu ...

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

Sabah State Legislative Assembly

General election results

State election results

References

External links

* {{Authority control Political parties in Sabah 1964 establishments in Malaysia Political parties established in 1994 Liberal parties in Malaysia Ethnic political parties Indigenous political parties Multiracialist parties in Malaysia Political parties of minorities in Malaysia