Federal Political Elites and the Expansion of Ethnic Politics to the Periphery State of Sabah in Malaysia

Abstract

Ethnic politics has been an important feature of Malaysia’s political life since even before its formation in 1963. Despite being part of Malaysia, however, the East Malaysia state of Sabah historically was devoid of such politics. But since the formation of Malaysia, there has been a long decline in ethnic tolerance and harmony in Sabah due to the federal elite’s success in expanding ethnic politics there. This thesis investigates the following questions: How did the governing elites in Kuala Lumpur successfully expand ethnic politics to Sabah? Why was it important for the governing politicians to expand such politics to the periphery state? Why did the public allow this to happen? By carrying out in-depth ethnohistorical investigation into the role played by governing federal politicians in generating ethnicity in Sabah’s politics, this thesis notes how ethnic politics can be developed, escalated and diffused. It describes how the federal political elite’s decision to export West Malaysia’s model of ethnic based coalition government eventually established ethnicity as a feature of Sabah politics due to competition and collaboration between federal and local political elites, and competition between local politicians who elicited responses along ethno-religious lines from the public. For their part the people of Sabah came to accept the expansion there of ethnic politics and its principles of consociational democracy under pressure from the federal elite. From a policy perspective, the findings suggest that abandoning ethnic-based democracy and policies is crucial in providing more universal benefits to the citizenry and preventing full-fledged conflict within an ethnically and religiously diverse population.