Sabah Progressive Party

Sabah Progressive Party Parti Maju Sabah
Malay name	Parti Maju Sabah [1]
Abbreviation	SAPP
President	Yong Teck Lee
Chairman	Liew Teck Chan Awang Talip Awang Bagul Maria Luisa Nobleza Geoffrey Yee Lung Fuk Francis Yapp Tai Nyen Chin Hon Khiong Eric Majimbun
Secretary-General	Richard Yong We Kong
Spokesperson	Chin Vui Kai
Deputy President	Edward Dagul Amde Sidik Chong Pit Fah
Youth Chief	Jamain Sarudin (Pemuda) Yvonne Yong Yit Phung (Mudanita)
Women Chief	Noraniza Mohd Noor
Treasurer General	Japiril Suhaimin Bandaran
Vice President	Datu Shuaib Datu Mutalib Aloysius Danim Siap Gee Tien Siong Thomas Lau Chee Kiong
Founder	Yong Teck Lee
Founded	21 January 1994
Split from	United Sabah Party
Headquarters	House No. 1115, Lorong Kelengkeng 1, Taman Antarabangsa, 3rd Mile, Jalan Tuaran Lama, Likas, 88300 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Youth wing	SAPP Youth Movement
Women's wing	SAPP Women's Movement
Ideology	Regionalism
National affiliation	Barisan Nasional (1994–2008) Perikatan Nasional (2020–2024)
Regional affiliation	United Sabah Alliance (2016–2018) United Alliance of Sabah (2018–2020) Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (2020–2025)
Colours	Yellow, green and blue
Slogan	Bersama Kita Membangun, Serentak Kita Maju
Dewan Negara:	0 / 70
Dewan Rakyat:	0 / 26 (Sabah and Labuan seats)
Sabah State Legislative Assembly:	1 / 79
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
www.sapp.org.my
Politics of Malaysia Political parties Elections

The Sabah Progressive Party (Malay : Parti Maju Sabah, abbreviated SAPP) ^[1] is a multiracial political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. It was registered on 21 January 1994 by dissidents led by former Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Yong Teck Lee from United Sabah Party. Formerly a component party in the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, SAPP officially withdrew from BN in September 2008 to become independent. ^[2] As of 2010, SAPP has two representatives in the national legislature and two in the Sabah State Assembly. In 2016, the party together with Homeland Solidarity Party formed the United Sabah Alliance. ^[3] It later joined the United Alliance together with STAR and PBS in 2018. The SAPP became the main component party of the national short-lived ruling turned opposition coalition Perikatan Nasional (PN) and Sabah state ruling coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), the successor of United Alliance that was established in 2020 and registered in 2022. SAPP later withdrew from PN in 2024 after PN decided to contest in the 2025 Sabah state election, of which SAPP strongly disagreed with, based on its principle that the state election should only be contested by local coalitions and parties of Sabah, of which PN is not. ^[4]

History

Formation, joining Barisan Nasional

The party was formed on 21 January 1994, by factions of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) led by its vice-president Yong Teck Lee, who disagreed with the party president Joseph Pairin Kitingan. Yong, who was outgoing Deputy Chief Minister under Pairin, together with members of his faction, resigned from PBS on the day of SAPP's formation. ^[5] The party was registered just in time to enter the 1994 Sabah state election, which SAPP entered under the banner of Barisan Nasional, and won 3 seats out of seven SAPP contested. When BN regained control of the state on March that year after further defections from PBS, SAPP then became part of the government in Sabah. Yong was then appointed as the state's Chief Minister from 1996 to 1998, under then rotation system between Muslim bumiputera, Non-Muslim bumiputera and Chinese leaders for a short two-year tenure.

Withdrawal from Barisan Nasional

The SAPP won two parliamentary seats in the general election held on 8 March 2008. After the 2008 election, there were calls by many Sabahan political parties for more autonomy from the Malaysian federal government.

SAPP President Yong Teck Lee announced on 18 June 2008 that the party would file a "no-confidence motion" in the Dewan Rakyat on 23 June against Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, calling on him to step down. The party, criticising what it described as insensitivity on the part of the government towards issues in Sabah, said that it was taking advantage of a unique "window of opportunity" for the sake of Sabah interests, including autonomy, return of Labuan and 20% of oil revenues. ^{[6] [7]} The majority of the Sabah population are generally content with the SAPP no-confidence vote against Prime Minister Abdullah who has been accused a number of wrongdoings including corruption and abuse of power. In retaliation for calling for a vote of no-confidence against Abdullah, the BN supreme council issued a show-cause letter to SAPP. ^[8] A 30-day period was to give SAPP a chance to reply and defend itself before BN took any action against them. ^[9]

On 17 September 2008, SAPP quit Barisan Nasional. ^[10] Nevertheless, the decision came at a price as the party's deputy president, one of its vice-presidents, ^[11] and its youth chief (who chose to remain within BN) all opposed the move and withdrew from the party. ^[12] Some 2,000 members of the party similarly disagreed from the move and left the party, showing support for these dissident leaders. ^[13]

Forming the United Sabah Alliance and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah

In 2016, the party formed a part of the United Sabah Alliance (USA) and reformed the coalition in 2020 as Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS). ^[3] SAPP officially became the part of the official member of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah in 2020. ^[3]

Representatives

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

Malaysian State Assembly Representatives

Main article: List of Malaysian State Assembly Representatives (2022–present)

Sabah State Legislative Assembly

1 / 79

State	No.	State Constituency	Member	Party
Sabah	–	Nominated Member	Yong Teck Lee		SAPP
Total	Sabah (1)

General election results

Election	Total seats won	Seats contested	Total votes	Voting Percentage	Outcome of election	Election leader
1995	2 / 193	2			2 seats; Government coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Yong Teck Lee
1999	2 / 193	2			0 seats; Government coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Yong Teck Lee
2004	2 / 219	2	16,426	0.24%	0 seats; Government coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Yong Teck Lee
2008	2 / 222	2	30,827	0.39%	0 seats; Government coalition (Barisan Nasional), later Opposition	Yong Teck Lee
2013	0 / 222	8	10,099	0.09%	2 seats; No representation in Parliament(UBA)	Yong Teck Lee
2018	0 / 222	5	6,090	0.05%	0 seats; No representation in Parliament(USA)	Yong Teck Lee
2022	0 / 222	1	5,054	0.03%	0 seats; No representation in Parliament (Gabungan Rakyat Sabah)	Yong Teck Lee

State election results

State election	State Legislative Assembly
	Sabah	Total won / Total contested
2/3 majority	2 / 3	2 / 3
1994	3 / 48	3 / 7
1999	3 / 48	3 / 5
2004	4 / 60	4 / 4
2008	5 / 60	5 / 5
2013	0 / 60	0 / 41
2018	0 / 60	0 / 5
2020	0 / 73	0 / 2
2025	0 / 73	0 / 6

See also

• Politics of Malaysia
• List of political parties in Malaysia

References

1. "Parti Maju Sabah – Bersama Kita Membangun, Serentak Kita Maju" . Retrieved 3 December 2020.
2. Muguntan Vanar; Ruben Sario (18 September 2008). "SAPP pulls out of Barisan". The Star . Retrieved 19 September 2008.
3. "Gabungan Sabah, perpaduan parti parti pembangkang tempatan yang dinantikan sekian lama" (in Malay). Sabah Progressive Party. 12 February 2018. Archived from the original on 12 April 2018. Retrieved 12 April 2018.
4. "SAPP withdraws from Perikatan coalition, remains with GRS". The Star. 14 December 2024. Retrieved 14 December 2024.
5. "SAPP Party Background". legacy.sapp.org.my. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
6. "SAPP's vote of no confidence against PM (Update 2)". The Star. 18 June 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2008.
7. "SAPP sticking to no-confidence stand". The Star. 31 July 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
8. "Show-cause letter may be issued to SAPP". The Star. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 22 June 2008.
9. Shahanaaz Habib; Florence A. Samy; Manjit Kaur (27 June 2008). "SAPP gets show-cause letter". The Star. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
10. Jalil Hamid; Faisal Aziz; Liau Y-Sing; David Chance; Jeremy Laurence (17 September 2008). "Malaysia party quits coalition; PM cedes key post". Reuters. Retrieved 17 September 2008.
11. Muguntan Vanar; Ruben Sario (18 September 2008). "SAPP pulls out of Barisan". The Star. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
12. "15 out of 17 SAPP branches in Sandakan opt to follow Tan in staying with Barisan". The Star. 21 September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
13. "2,000 SAPP Members Quit Party". Bernama . Sin Chew Daily. 20 September 2008. Retrieved 22 September 2008.

External links

• Official website