Sabah election 2025: Choosing leaders who will build, not break

Sabah stands at one of the most critical crossroads in its political history.

For decades, the state has endured instability, shifting political loyalties, and leaders who come and go like seasonal winds.

But the 2025 Sabah legislative assembly election will determine not just who governs, but the very identity and direction of Sabah for the next generation.

This election is unprecedented. With almost 600 candidates contesting 73 seats – including a 14-cornered election in Tulid – the people of Sabah are faced not with a feast of democratic choices, but with a chaotic political marketplace

When the ballot is this crowded, the danger is simple: the loudest may drown out the wisest, and the richest may overshadow the most capable. Sabah cannot afford to decide in confusion.

Threat of imported extremism

Perhaps the most worrying development is religious and racial rhetoric that may have seeped into the territory – rhetoric that never belonged here. Politics from the peninsula, especially the divisive strains championed by Pas and Perikatan Nasional, are creeping into the East under the guise of moral superiority and cultural policing.

For decades, Sabah has prided itself on harmony: Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and followers of traditional practices living in unity.

Today, outsiders are attempting to reshape Sabah’s political landscape into something rigid, intolerant and alien. 

Voters must ask themselves honestly: do they want to live under imported dogma, dictated by people who neither understand nor respect the soul of this land? Once the door to religious supremacy politics is opened, it will never close again.

What voters really care about

The people of Sabah care about practical issues: water and electricity disruptions, road conditions and the rising cost of living. They care about economic fairness, the preservation of native land rights and fairer treatment under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

For decades, Sabah’s leaders shouted about MA63, about autonomy, about entitlements. Yet few delivered anything beyond slogans.

But for the first time in many years, the federal government under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has publicly affirmed Sabah’s right to its long-denied 40% revenue entitlement – though the precise meaning of this is contested.

If fulfilled, it means stronger budgets, modern infrastructure, better schools and a more dignified Sabah that no longer has to beg for attention from Putrajaya.

Who will deliver?

Which leaders will actually cooperate with the federal government to secure what Sabah rightfully deserves? And which ones are more interested in theatrics and empty regional rights rhetoric?

Many candidates have no history of fighting for Sabah’s development. Some have hopped parties whenever convenient. Others represent powerful political families – sons, in-laws, nephews and cousins contesting under different banners, sometimes even against each other, as if the state were an inheritance to be divided.

This ‘family capture’ of Sabah politics must be questioned.

What Sabah needs

What Sabah needs are leaders with courage, competence and clarity – not those who appear every five years offering handouts and promises.

Most importantly, Sabah needs leaders who can negotiate intelligently with Putrajaya, develop long-term economic plans and stand firm when religious and racial extremists try to disturb the peace.

The choice before voters

A vote for chaos, imported extremism, and ego-driven candidates will leave Sabah stuck in the same cycle of instability it has endured for two decades.

A vote for capable, moderate, forward-looking leaders will place Sabah on the road to growth, fairness and dignity.

Every voter must decide: do they want a government that collapses every two years, or a government that focuses on solving problems and building a future?

The stakes could not be higher.

Will Sabah remain a proud, united territory that protects its multicultural harmony? Or will it surrender its identity to outsiders who thrive on division?

Will its leaders fight for economic justice? Or will they let noise-makers derail progress?

Will Sabah be governed by people with vision – or by dynasties and proxies seeking power for its own sake?

This election asks Sabahans one powerful question: are we choosing leaders who will build Sabah, or leaders who will break it?

The answer lies with the people of Sabah. And history will remember whether they chose wisely.

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