United Sabah People's Party

Not to be confused with Parti Perpaduan Rakyat Sabah or Parti Bersatu Rakyat Jelata Sabah.

"PBRS" redirects here. For the singular of PBRs, see PBR (disambiguation).

The United Sabah People's Party (Malay: Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah; abbreviated: PBRS) is a minority political party based in Sabah, Malaysia. Presently PBRS is being led by its President Arthur Joseph Kurup. The party was previously led by its founding and first president; Joseph Kurup from 1994 to 2023. PBRS is officially a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition since 1994 except for a brief period from 2018 to 2020.

United Sabah People's Party
Malay name	Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah
Abbreviation	PBRS
President	Arthur Joseph Kurup
Secretary-General	Richard Kastum
Spokesperson	Rayner Francis Udong
Deputy President	Richard Kastum
Youth Leader	Edwin Laimin
Vice President	Motusin Matius Bowie Nomrin Rosnie Manain Vincen Lee Zhamriee Gilam Rasul Fung Hon Yi Jessel CP Yansalang Zainon Kayum
Founder	Joseph Kurup
Founded	3 March 1994[1]
Legalised	11 March 1994
Split from	United Sabah Party (PBS)
Headquarters	Blok B, Lot 19, Tingkat Dua, Lorong Singgah Mata 2, Asia City, 88000 Kota Kinabalu, Sabah
Youth wing	Youth Section
Women's wing	Women Section
Ideology	Nationalism
Political position	Right-wing
National affiliation	Barisan Nasional (1994–2018), (since 2020) United Alliance (2018–2020)
Colours	Yellow, green, light blue
Dewan Negara:	0 / 70
Dewan Rakyat:	1 / 26 (Sabah and Labuan seats)
Sabah State Legislative Assembly:	0 / 79
Website
Facebook PBRS
Politics of Malaysia Political parties Elections

Joseph Kurup, founder of PBRS

History

PBRS was formed by its founding president, Joseph Kurup who had led some disaffected members of the United Sabah Party (PBS) on 11 March 1994. On 10 June 1994, it was officially accepted as one of the component parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.^[2]

In the aftermath of the fall of BN coalition in the 2018 Malaysian general election (GE14), the party's president Joseph Kurup said they decided to quit BN but it was only confirmed after an announcement was made to the public after getting the green light from its Supreme Council on 12 May 2018.^[3][4][5] PBRS applied to join the new ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition so as to ensure its promises can be fulfilled. As such application was later ignored, in addition to the statement of Sabah PH chief Christina Liew Chin Jin that PBRS has a 'very slim chance' to be a part of PH, PBRS decided to remain with Sabah BN-UMNO to form a new coalition with other Sabah-based parties, the United Alliance of Sabah or Gabungan Bersatu Sabah (GBS).^[6][7][8]

In the wake of the collapse of the PH federal government in the 2020 Malaysian political crisis, PBRS had attended again after a 2-year lapse the BN coalition's Supreme Council meeting along with other component parties of Peninsular Malaysia; UMNO, MCA and MIC on 12 May 2020, which had decided to declare their support for the new prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin and his new Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance federal government.^[9] PBRS deputy president who is the party's sole MP, Arthur Joseph Kurup was also appointed as the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Economic Affairs in the BN supported and aligned Muhyiddin's PN new ruling administration since March 2020.^[10] BN secretary-general Annuar Musa announced that as the coalition Supreme Council which was attended by the PBRS president, Joseph Kurup himself, has implicate that PBRS is still remains or has rather returns as a BN coalition component.^[11] On 9 January 2021, PBRS Deputy President, Arthur Joseph Kurup signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set-up Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) which contested the 2020 Sabah state election earlier and managed to win to form the Sabah state government.^[12][13] On 7 January 2023, Joseph Kurup stepped down as the 1st PBRS president and became the Honorary Chairman of PBRS after helming the party from its formation in 1994 to 2023 for 29 years, party deputy president and his son Arthur Joseph Kurup took over as the 2nd party president.^[14]

Elected representatives

Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)

Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament

Main article: Members of the Dewan Rakyat, 15th Malaysian Parliament

PBRS currently has only one member in the House of Representatives.

State	No.	Parliament Constituency	Member	Party
Sabah	P182	Pensiangan	Arthur Joseph Kurup		PBRS
Total	Sabah (1)

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

Malaysian State Assembly Representatives

Main article: List of Malaysian State Assembly Representatives (2022–present)

Sabah State Legislative Assembly

0 / 79

General election results

Election	Total seats won	Seats contested	Total votes	Voting Percentage	Outcome of election	Election leader
1995	0 / 192	1			; No representation in Parliament (Barisan Nasional)	Joseph Kurup
1999	0 / 193	1			; No representation in Parliament (Barisan Nasional)	Joseph Kurup
2004	1 / 219	1	5,880	0.08%	1 seat; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Joseph Kurup
2008	1 / 222	1	0	0,00%	; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Joseph Kurup
2013	1 / 222	1	9,467	0.09%	; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Joseph Kurup
2018	1 / 222	1	11,783	0.10%	; Opposition coalition, later Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Arthur Joseph Kurup
2022	1 / 222	2 (Pensiangan-Barisan Nasional; Ranau-PBRS)	23,877	0.15%	; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Arthur Joseph Kurup

State election results

State election	State Legislative Assembly
	Sabah State Legislative Assembly	Total won / Total contested
2/3 majority	2 / 3	2 / 3
1999	0 / 48	0 / 2
2004	1 / 60	1 / 1
2008	1 / 60	1 / 1
2013	1 / 60	1 / 1
2018	1 / 60	1 / 1
2020	0 / 73	0 / 4