United Sabah National Organisation

This article is about the Sabahan defunct political party of the same name. For the revived and re-registered new party, see United Sabah National Organisation (New).

The United Sabah National Organisation (Malay: Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Sabah Bersatu; abbrev: USNO) was a political party in North Borneo and later Sabah, Malaysia. The widely known Sabah's Muslim indigenous especially Suluk-Bajau ethnic based party was founded by the third Chief Minister of Sabah; Mustapha Harun in December 1961.^[1]

United Sabah National Organisation
Malay name	Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Sabah Bersatu ڤرتوبوهن كبڠسأن سابه برساتو
Chinese name	沙巴聯合民族組織 沙巴联合民族组织 Shābā liánhé mínzú zǔzhī
Abbreviation	USNO
Founder	Mustapha Harun
Founded	December 1961
Dissolved	1996
Merged into	UMNO Sabah
Succeeded by	United Sabah National Organisation (New) (2013)
National affiliation	Sabah Alliance (1963-1976) Barisan Nasional (1973-1975, 1976-1981, 1986-1993) Sabah Front (1981-1986)
Politics of Malaysia Political parties Elections

Prior to the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, USNO played a major role in cooperation with United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO), led by Donald Stephens, and the Federation of Malaya, in attaining independence from the British. UPKO was then dissolved and merged into USNO in 1967.^[2]

The party came into power after winning the 1967 state election. USNO remained in power until 1975 under Mustapha's leadership, and until 1976 under Mohammad Said Keruak's leadership.

In 1975, USNO's secretary-general Harris Salleh quit the party and teamed up with former UPKO leader Stephens who had become Sabah Governor and had returned to politics to create a new party called Sabah People's United Front (BERJAYA).^[2] This new party defeated USNO in the 1976 state election to form government until 1985. USNO consistently continued to participate in state elections of 1981, 1985, 1986, and 1990, winning several state electorates, however never enough to form government again.^[3][4]

After the 1990 state election when BERJAYA themselves were ousted by United Sabah Party (PBS), Mustapha returned to team-up with Harris again in a merger of USNO and BERJAYA for his long-envisaged initiative to create the Sabah chapter of peninsula-based United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) with Mustapha himself became its first chief of UMNO Sabah.^[4] In 1996, USNO was finally de-registered by the federal Registrar of Societies (RoS). Six of its legislators joined the Sabah UMNO while the rest joined the opposition PBS.^[5]

General election results

Election	Total seats won	Seats contested	Total votes	Share of votes	Outcome of election	Election leader
1964	6 / 159	13		appointed by Legislative Assembly	6 seats; Governing coalition (Alliance Party)	Mustapha Harun
1969	13 / 144	15	31,947	1.33%	7 seats; Governing coalition (Alliance Party)	Mustapha Harun
1974	13 / 154	15			; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional and Sabah Alliance)	Mustapha Harun
1978	5 / 154	15			8 seats; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Mustapha Harun
1982	0 / 154	19			5 seats; No representation in Parliament	Mustapha Harun
1986	5 / 177	15	27,409	0.58%	5 seats; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Mustapha Harun
1990	6 / 180	15			1 seats; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Mustapha Harun
1995	15 / 192	15			8 seats; Governing coalition (Barisan Nasional)	Mustapha Harun

State election results

State election	State Legislative Assembly
	Sabah	Total won / Total contested
2/3 majority	2 / 3
1967	14 / 32	14 / 25
1971	29 / 32	29 / 29
1976	20 / 48	20 / 40
1981	3 / 48	3 / 29
1985	16 / 48	16 / 43
1986	12 / 48	12 / 27
1990	12 / 48	12 / 38

See also

• Politics of Malaysia
• List of political parties in Malaysia
• United Sabah National Organisation (New) (USNO Baru)

References

1. Stockwell, A. J. (2004). British Documents on The End of Empire : Malaysia. Institute of Commonwealth in University of London. p. 72. ISBN 9780112905813.
2. "UPKO/PDS". Archived from the original on January 25, 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
3. James Chin, pp. 22-25
4. "The United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in Sabah, East Malaysia: An Overview 1990-1994 International" (PDF). Hamdan Aziz (Ph.D) & Syahrin Said, Department of Nationhood and Civilization Studies, Centre for Fundamental and Liberal Education, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT). Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Vol. 7, No. 12. 2017. ISSN 2222-6990. Retrieved 25 September 2021 – via HR Mars.
5. James Chin, 31

Further reading

• Chin, James (1999). "Going east: UMNO's entry into Sabah Politics". Asian Journal of Political Science. 7 (1): 20–40. doi:10.1080/02185379908434135.