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How Malaysia Voted in 2018 35

In the past, Muslim Bumiputera voters have traditionally provided strong
support to BN, generally returning vote shares in excess of 70 per cent, thus
forming the backbone of the party’s support in Sabah. ose prior high
levels of BN support gave the impression that this support was durable.
In 2016, di erences between then-Chief Minister Musa Aman and then-
Rural Development Minister Sha e Apdal, as well as unhappiness over the
1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) a air, led to Sha e’s suspension,
then resignation, from the party (see also Faisal Hazis’s chapter). Sha e then
formed a new party, Parti Warisan Sabah (Sabah Heritage Party, Warisan).
He leveraged his stature within the predominant Bajau community along the
eastern seaboard of the state and succeeded in converting disa ected UMNO
members and attracting new followers to his party with a platform of Sabah
autonomy. At the same time, several leaders from PKR and other parties joined
ranks with him, allowing him to expand the new party’s in uence into west-
coast Muslim Bumiputera and some Kadazan Dusun communities as well.
Our discussions with a senior BN Sabah leader at the time indicated that many
acknowledged the in uence Sha e wielded through Warisan, but felt that it
was only potent in the eastern part of the state. 8
Contrary to that assumption, and similar to developments in Peninsular
Malaysia, Warisan and Sabah PH eventually formed an alliance that capitalized
on the split within UMNO, thus enabling them to wrest control of 14 of the
25 parliamentary districts in the state. At the state legislative level, Warisan
and Sabah PH were a few districts short of a majority, but were able to secure
the defection of representatives from UMNO and the United Pasokmomogun
Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO) in post-election wrangling, thus
allowing Sha e to be sworn in as the new chief minister.
e GE14 results in Sabah (Table 2.17) show voter inclinations that
roughly correspond to the geographic distribution described above and re ect
Sha e’s strong in uence among eastern Sabah Bumiputera voters. From its
epicentre in Semporna, Warisan generated a 22 per cent swing against BN
and smaller parties in the eastern region of Sabah. is mobilization of
support also pushed BN o the table in interior districts, where its hold was
already tenuous. (BN won many KDM seats with plurality votes due to split
opposition votes in GE13.)
Analysing voting patterns by ethnic background in Sabah is signi cantly
harder than in the rest of Malaysia because of the diverse number of subethnic
groups, which are further divided into various religious subgroups. With the
exception of distinct zones such as predominantly Chinese urban areas and
a handful of areas that are dominated by one particular ethnic or linguistic

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