Politics[edit]

Government[edit]
See also: Government of Sarawak, Cabinet of Sarawak, and Sarawak State Legislative Assembly

Composition of the 18th Sarawak State Legislative Assembly

Seats

Affiliation Leader in the Assembly Status

2016
electio Current
n

Gabungan Parti Abang Abdul Rahman

Government 72 68
Sarawak Zohari Abang Openg

Malaysian United Confidence and

No leader 0 1
Indigenous Party supply

Parti Sarawak Bersatu Wong Soon Koh 0 6

Pakatan Harapan Chong Chieng Jen Opposition 10 5

Independent N/A 0 1
 Total 82 81

Government majority 62 57

Timeline of political parties in Sarawak

The head of the Sarawak state is the Yang di-Pertua Negeri (also known as TYT or Governor), a
largely symbolic position appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) on the advice
of the Malaysian federal government.[73] Since 2014 this position has been held by Abdul Taib
Mahmud.[74] The TYT appoints the chief minister, currently held by Abang Johari Openg (GPS),[75] as
the head of government. Generally, the leader of the party that commands the majority of the state
Legislative Assembly is appointed as the chief minister; democratically elected representatives are
known as state assemblymen. The state assembly passes laws on subjects that are not under the
jurisdiction of the Parliament of Malaysia such as land administration, employment, forests,
immigration, merchant shipping and fisheries. The state government is constituted by the chief
minister, the cabinet ministers and their assistant ministers. [76]
To protect the interests of the Sarawakians in the Malaysian federation, special safeguards have
been included in the Constitution of Malaysia. These include: control over immigration in and out of
the state as well as the residence status of non-Sarawakians and Sabahans, limitations on the
practice of law to resident lawyers, independence of the Sarawak High Court from the High Court
Peninsular Malaysia, a requirement that the Sarawak Chief Minister be consulted prior to the
appointment of the chief judge of the Sarawak High Court, the existence of Native Courts in Sarawak
and the power to levy sales tax. Natives in Sarawak enjoy special privileges such as quotas and
employment in public service, scholarships, university placements, and business permits. [77] Local
governments in Sarawak are exempt from local council laws enacted by the Malaysian parliament.
[78]
 This level of autonomy means Sarawak is sometimes referred to as a "region", to differentiate it
from less autonomous states.[79]
The State Assembly building is located near the Kuching waterfront.

Major political parties in Sarawak can be divided into three categories: native non-Muslim, native
Muslim, and non-native; parties, however, may also include members from more than one group.
[80]
 The first political party, the Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP), was established in 1959,
followed by the Parti Negara Sarawak (PANAS) in 1960 and the Sarawak National Party (SNAP) in
1961. Other major political parties such as Parti Pesaka Sarawak (PESAKA) appeared by 1962. [31][note
5]
 These parties later joined the national coalition of the Alliance Party. The Alliance Party (later
regrouped into Barisan Nasional) has ruled Sarawak since the formation of Malaysia. The opposition
in Sarawak has consistently alleged that the ruling coalition uses various types of vote-buying tactics
in order to win elections.[81][note 6][82] Stephen Kalong Ningkan was the first Chief Minister of
Sarawak from 1963 to 1966 following his landslide victory in local council elections. However, he
was ousted in 1966 by Tawi Sli with the help of the Malaysian federal government, causing the 1966
Sarawak constitutional crisis.[31]

Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Abdul Taib Mahmud

Chief Minister, Abang Johari Openg

In 1969, the first Sarawak state election was held, with members of the Council Negri being directly
elected by the voters. This election marked the beginning of ethnic Melanau domination in Sarawak
politics by Abdul Rahman Ya'kub and Abdul Taib Mahmud. In the same year, the North Kalimantan
Communist Party (NKCP) which subsequently waged a guerrilla war against the newly elected
Sarawak state government, was formed. The party was dissolved after the signing of a peace
agreement in 1990.[72] 1973 saw the birth of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) following a
merger of several parties.[83] This party would later become the backbone of the Sarawak BN
coalition. In 1978, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) was the first West Malaysia-based party to
open its branches in Sarawak.[83] Sarawak originally held state elections together with national
parliamentary elections. However, the then chief minister Abdul Rahman Ya'kub delayed the
dissolution of the state assembly by a year to prepare for the challenges posed by opposition
parties.[81] This made Sarawak the only state in Malaysia to hold state elections separate from the
national parliamentary elections since 1979. [84] In 1983, SNAP started to fragment into several
splinter parties due to recurrent leadership crises.[85][86] The political climate in the state was stable
until the 1987 Ming Court Affair, a political coup initiated by Abdul Taib Mahmud's uncle to topple the
Taib-led BN coalition. However, the coup was unsuccessful and Taib retained his position as chief
minister.[87]
Since the 2006 state election, the Democractic Action Party (DAP) has derived the majority of its
support from urban centres and became the largest opposition party in Sarawak. [88] In 2010, it formed
the Pakatan Rakyat coalition with Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS);
the latter two parties had become active in Sarawak between 1996 and 2001. [89] Sarawak is the only
state in Malaysia where West Malaysia-based component parties in the BN coalition, especially
the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), have not been active in state politics.[90]
On 12 June 2018, the Sarawak Parties Alliance was formed by the BN parties in the state in the
aftermath of an historic meeting of party leaders in Kuching, where they decided that in light of the
BN defeat in the 2018 Malaysian general election and the changing national situation and a new
government, the parties will leave the BN altogether. [91] In conjunction with the celebration
of Malaysia Day in 2018 under the new government, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has
promised to restore the status of Sarawak (together with Sabah) as an equal partner to Malaya,
where all three parties (and then, Singapore) formed Malaysia in accordance to the Malaysia
Agreement.[92][93] However, through the process of the proposed amendment to the Constitution of
Malaysia in 2019, the bill for the amendment failed to pass following the failure to reach two-thirds
majority support (148 votes) in the Parliament with only 138 agreed with the move while 59
abstained from the voting.[94][95]

Administrative divisions[edit]
Main articles: Divisions of Malaysia, Districts of Malaysia, and List of local governments in Malaysia

Unlike states in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak is divided into divisions, which is 12 in all, each
headed by an appointed resident.[73][96][97] Formerly, these 12 Divisions split from 5 original divisions
during White Rajah administration.