March 4, 2025
PETALING JAYA – IT was truly a David versus Goliath tale when a 46-day-old party defeated the mighty Berjaya, which had ruled Sabah for nine years. The sentiment that swept Parti Bersatu Sabah into power came to be called the Spirit of 1985.
Growing up as a teenager in Kota Kinabalu in the 1980s, I felt that sentiment.
Back then, my bulu roma kembang (I got goosebumps) when PBS founder Tan Sri Joseph Pairin Kitingan spoke at any ceramah. He was the icon of the Spirit of 1985.
It was a time when Sabahans united to bring down a state government that they saw as being too pro-Federal. It was also about fighting for what was right for Sabah, which formed Malaysia with Singapore, Sarawak, and Malaya in 1963.
If there is one quote to describe the Federal Govern-ment’s support for Berjaya, a Barisan Nasional component party, it was the declaration of then prime minister and Umno president Datuk Seri (now Tun) Dr Mahathir Mohamad when he campaigned for Berjaya during the 1985 snap elections: “Sink or swim.”
Well, the Spirit of 1985 most decisively sank a party backed by the state and Federal governments.
For the last few months, I have been involved with Sabah Way Forward, a group focused on addressing the challenges the state faces and promoting its progress, and NorthBorneoTV, a media platform showcasing Sabah; we have been working on a documentary called The Spirit of 1985. It aims to capture the essence of the political movement in the 1980s and its impact on Sabah.
The main feedback from the social media campaign about the documentary is “PBS tetap di hati” (PBS is always in the heart). But this comes with a qualifier that PBS now is not the PBS of the past. Commentators are clamouring for a return of the Spirit of 1985. They want a party or coalition that’s more like PBS was back then.
Sabah’s oldest local party, formed on March 5, 1985, will celebrate its 40th anniversary on Wednesday.
Not many know this, but Sabahans were political trailblazers. Many people in Peninsular Malaysia assume that Pakatan Rakyat (then comprising PKR, DAP, and PAS) was the first coalition to defeat the mighty Barisan when it won five states in the 2008 General Election – Kedah, Kelantan, Penang, Perak, and Selangor.
PBS, however, defeated Barisan in 1985 when it defeated Berjaya.
But of course, back then mainstream media was much more focused on the peninsula, and Sabah and Sarawak tended not to get many front page headlines. There was also no social media in the 1980s. And, really, many in Peninsular Malaysia don’t know this political history.
Many also think that only Pakatan Rakyat, which morphed into Pakatan Harapan, struggled the most with the Barisan-controlled Federal Government.
PBS, which has been in and out of Barisan, also made bold decisions, such as quitting the ruling Federal coalition to team up with Opposition parties such as Semangat 46, DAP, and PAS to fight Goliath before 1985. But David failed at first as Opposition parties in Peninsular Malaysia and Sarawak could not deliver the seats.
Dr Mahathir called the PBS move a “stab in the back” then.
After nine years of rule, PBS won the 1994 state elections with a slim majority – 25 against Barisan’s 23. Most attributed the coalition’s dismal performance to Project IC (the allegation that phantom voters were used), the redelineation of constituencies, and the Federal Government’s might.
After some of his assemblymen jumped parties, then Sabah chief minister Kitingan graciously stepped down. He couldn’t play the dissolve the state assembly card.
Can the Spirit of 1985 be replicated?
Forty years after the sentiment of change swept Sabah, I believe my state is ready for the Spirit of 2025.
This is an election year for Sabah as polls must be called by December. Most Sabahans are clamouring for the main Sabah-based parties to unite under one electoral pact. They want a Sabah only electoral alliance versus the national parties.
The dream team is GRS (eight local parties anchored by PGRS, PBS, and Sabah Star) combining with local party Parti Warisan versus a Kuala Lumpur-based electoral pact of the Umno-led Barisan and Pakatan (currently PKR, DAP, Amanah, and Upko).
Sabahans want the sort of political unity Sarawak enjoys, where Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) won a supermajority – 76 seats out of 82 – in the 2021 Sarawak elections. The only national party to win seats (two) was DAP, and the remaining four seats went to Parti Sarawak Bersatu.
But Sabah politics is fragmented.
In 1985, the main political parties were Berjaya, Usno, and PBS. Interestingly, it was Sabah party vs Sabah party vs Sabah party.
After the votes were counted, PBS got 25 seats, Pasok (endorsed by PBS as its candidate was disqualified) one, Usno 16, and Berjaya six. PBS formed the government with 26 seats (plus Pasok)
Now, the permutation of coalitions and parties seems endless.
It could be Barisan and Pakatan vs GRS vs Parti Warisan vs Perikatan Nasional vs Parti KDM vs mosquito parties vs other mosquito parties.
Or it could be Barisan, Pakatan, and GRS vs Parti Warisan vs Perikatan vs Parti KDM vs mosquito parties vs independents.
Sabahans want an electoral pact comprising only Sabah parties, GRS, and Warisan, versus the rest.
Can it happen?
The two big powerbrokers in Sabah politics won’t allow it. Next time, when I am less harried, I will write about the re-emergence of these two politicians. They now dominate Sabah’s political fate. But there is a third power-broker in the state: the rakyat of Sabah. And I believe they want the Spirit of 2025.