KOTA KINABALU, Wednesday, 19 November 2025:
In his first campaign speech at Kota Kinabalu today, Yong Teck Lee, President of Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) said that Sabahans reject local dictatorship as well as Malaya parties.
Sabah and Sarawak share a history as the Borneo territories that formed Malaysia, yet today our paths have diverged completely.
It is time we look at our neighbour and admit that Sarawak has succeeded because they have a coalition government model that works.
The successful model of government in Sarawak is a coalition of local parties, not a dictatorship nor any party from outside. It is a consensus of local parties working solely for Sarawak without interference from Malaya parties.
We often look at Sarawak with envy. They have acquired their own airline (AirBorneo), purchased stakes in banks to secure their financial ecosystem, established their own coast guard to protect their marine assets, and are aggressively investing in AI and green energy. Even more impressive is their education policy where they will soon offer free tertiary education to their people.
We must also understand the nuance behind these successes. These are not just random projects but are the fruits of financial security, even though Sarawak doesn’t have the “golden card” of Sabah 40% entitlement.
However, financial security is impossible to achieve when the government is penetrated by external powers or internal conflicts. When Malaya parties penetrated the Sabah government, financial leakage occurred immediately.
Sabah financial leakage
The first leakage is our Constitutional entitlement to the 40% net revenue return.
This right was explicitly included in the 20 Points and the Federal Constitution by Datuk Yap Pak Leong to ensure Sabah had the funds to catch up in development. Yet, when Sabah is governed or influenced by parties headquartered in Malaya, they cannot and will not demand this payment forcefully.
Consequently, the billions that should be building our roads and water treatment plants remain in Federal hands.
The second leakage is even more damaging as it involves the weakening of local businesses. When external parties hold power, economic policies and opportunities naturally tilt away from locals.
A former Sabah Minister, Datuk Yap Pak Leong, in February 2005, calculated a frightening statistic regarding this decline. Before 1985, 90% of businesses in Sabah were owned by Sabahans. By 2005, that figure had collapsed to less than 20%. This is the direct result of political dilution.
When we lost political control to external models, we lost our economic sovereignty. Our local businessmen are sidelined, contracts flow outwards, and the wealth generated in Sabah does not stay in Sabah.
This explains why Sabah is poor despite having superior natural attributes to Sarawak.
We have a better strategic position between the Pacific and South China Sea, deep-water ports, and rich resources, but we are a sieve that leaks wealth.
We must plug this leak. The only way to do that is to emulate the Sarawak model by forming a united coalition of local parties without interference from Malaya-based parties.
We must reject the dictatorship of single party rule.
It is time for the people of Sabah to wake up and unite to secure our financial pillar, or we will remain left behind forever. Now is the time.
Datuk Yong Teck Lee
President, Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP)