Sabah and Sarawak in the 14th General Election 2018 (GE14): Local Factors and State Nationalism

Many would argue that the main factors in Pakatan Harapan’s victory were the 1MDB scandal, anti-Najib and anti-UMNO sentiments, and Mahathir’s ability to penetrate the rural Malay constituencies so as to split the UMNO/PAS vote. In the East Malaysia states of Sabah and Sarawak, however, it was local factors and state nationalism that largely decided the outcome of GE14. In this article, I will argue that the rise of state nationalism means that the most potent political issue in contemporary East Malaysia is MA63 – or the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. MA63 gives Sabah and Sarawak autonomy in a wide... Mehr ...