The merger of Sabah's two smaller Kadazandusun-Murut-based parties Upko and Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) is awaiting the ironing out of "a few minor details", according to Upko deputy president Wilfred Bumburing.

He said this mainly involves the proposed line-up from the state down to the divisional level and that "as far as possible, everyone has to be accommodated".

Bumburing said he believed the merger would be finalised by early next year.

"At the moment we're organising joint progammes, including a Christmas do on Saturday in Kota Kinabalu," he told malaysiakini.

Bumburing and PBRS president Joseph Kurup (photo right) have had a difference of opinion over the number of posts for deputy president in the merged entity. While Bumburing wants two posts, Kurup insists there should only be one.

Upko is headed by Bernard Dompok, a former chief minister and now Minister in the Prime Minister's Department. It has nine elected representatives four members of Parliament and five state assemblypersons.
PBRS has one MP and one state assemblyperson.

Influential PBS

Observers have described the merger as "a survival move" in the face of growing influence of the largely Christian rural membership of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS), which had ruled the state for nearly a decade as an opposition government.

The two parties and their leaders are said to be at odds with PBS, which is led by former chief minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan.


Since rejoining the Barisan Nasional, PBS has forged a close working relationship with Chief Minister Musa Aman of Umno and former chief minister Chong Kah Kiat of the Liberal Democratic Party.

This triumvirate leadership appears to have 'marginalised' other parties in the ruling coalition.

Upko and PBRS leaders were involved in a struggle in the mid 1980s against then Chief Minister Harris Salleh whose party, Berjaya, was subsequently topped by Pairin's PBS.

Most of the Upko and PBRS leaders were PBS defectors in the early 1990s, with other leaders opting to join Umno.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.