Sabah from the ground : the 2020 elections and the politics of survival

Sabah’s 2020 election was Malaysia’s first pandemic election. While attention centres on the election’s impact on the spread of Covid-19, this collection brings together scholars, journalists and social activists who were on the ground in Sabah to analyse what happened, why and the broader implications of the outcome for Sabah and Malaysian politics. The book is the first in-depth study of a Sabah election. It is also multidisciplinary – with authors from different perspectives and the majority of authors from Sabah. Traditional explanations prioritise the role of the federal-state relationship in shaping Sabah politics. Sabah from the Ground challenges this paradigm, suggesting that politics in Sabah needs to be better understood as a reflection of conditions within Sabah – as Sabahans struggle to navigate and survive on Malaysia’s periphery. Cover Page Contents Foreword: A defining role for a new Malaysia foregone? Foreword: Learning from Sabah Acknowledgements Introduction: Sabah Goes to the Polls Part 1 Context Chapter 1: Warisan Plus in Government: A Retrospective from the Campaign and Beyond Chapter 2: The 1963 Malaysia Agreement: Pakatan's Failed Restoration and Perikatan's Fledgling Initiatives Chapter 3: The Unemployment Problem during the Warisan Plus Administration Chapter 4: Voices of Civil Society Organisations in Sabah Politics Part 2 Narratives Chapter 5: Incessant Political Narratives: Perilous Migrants and the Treacherous East Chapter 6: Sabah's Youth Talk Politics: Ethnic Identity, Illegal Migrants & Religious Freedom Part 3 Campaigning Chapter 7: Key Players in Sabah's 'Keroyok' Politics Musa Aman Bung Moktar Radin Hajiji Noor Jeffrey Kitingan Chapter 8: 'Don't Jump, Time to Work': The Political Maturity of Sabahan Digital Spaces Through the 2020 State Election Chapter 9: Sabah Style amidst Uncertainty: Campaigning in the 2020 Sabah State Polls Chapter 10: Undi Sabah: Igniting Youth Participation in Sabah's Democracy Part 4 Results Chapter 11: A Holistic Society-Centred Analysis of the Sabah Election 2020 Results: Voters, Voting and Trajectories of Survival and Change Chapter 12: Chinese Sabahans in the 2020 Sabah State Election Chapter 13: Kadazan-Dusun Politics: The Persistence of Personality Politics, Patronage and Ethnonationalism Tony Paridi Chapter 14: Islam and Muslim Politics in Sabah's 2020 State Election Conclusion: Sabah's Covid-19 Election Aftermath: Beyond New (and Old) Political Alignments Bibliography List of Contributors Back Cover Sabah's 2020 election was Malaysia's pandemic election. While attention has centred on the impact the election had on the increase of COVID-19, this collection brings together scholars, journalists and social scientists who were on the ground on Sabah to analyse what happened, why, and the broader implications of the outcome for Sabah and Malaysian politics. The book is the first in-depth study of a Sabah election. It is multidisciplinary, with authors from different perspectives, and the majority of the authors are from Sabah