By Angie S Chin, Lead – The Vote Wisely Project / SVP For CAMOS.
KOTA KINABALU: Just six more days before the BIG DAY. I felt compelled to share this — maybe as a reminder when I look back on what could become one of Sabah’s most victorious memories or perhaps a lesson if it turns out otherwise.
A month ago, I wrote about Sabah’s greatest enemy — DISUNITY.
Corruption is a poison too, no doubt. But what we are facing now, this level of division, this breaking of our social fabric, is the worst that I have seen in my lifetime, especially as we enter the 17th state election.
Just look around us: so many new local parties, each claiming to fight for Sabah, yet all pulling people into smaller and smaller corners?
Why create ten tiny boats when we could build one strong ship to sail forward together
Even the recent roundtable discussion that went viral in Sabah’s political circles — instead of showing clarity, it exposed just how impossible unity feels among the very leaders who claim to champion KDMR.
It was painful to watch. Painful because it reminds us of something we rarely admit:
We Sabahans say that we are united, but in reality, we are breaking apart.
We used to be united. Truly. But when Semenanjung parties entered Sabah and reshaped our political landscape, something sacred was lost. Our unity became diluted. Our leaders started fighting among themselves. Our people were split into tribes of loyalty instead of one Sabahan identity.
We lost that spark.
And the more divided we become, the more space we give for Semenanjung parties to enter — to act like superheroes, to “save” us, and eventually to control us.
Sometimes, I even wonder if our disunity is actually not accidental — but carefully engineered by those with vested interests, both inside and outside of Sabah.
This brought me to the past few weeks ago, I have been haunted by the things that I’ve seen and the conversations that I’ve had.
On my flight home recently, I spoke to a semi-elderly mother (she sat next to me on the plane) from a rural village in Tuaran if she will be voting. She said yes.
And then she told (and even showed) me she received a WhatsApp message that says: “Vote for this party. You will get RM150.”
Then she asked me, with fear in her voice, “Sis, kalau saya ambil duit tapi saya undi lain… diorang tau kaitu?”
My heart broke.
She didn’t know her rights.
She didn’t know that her vote was secret — that no one can force her, track her, or punish her.
When I explained that she could not bring her phone into the voting booth, that no party can see her vote, that she is free to choose, I saw the relief in her eyes.
Relief — in something as basic as democracy.
And that should trouble all of us.
And then, on another flight back that same week, while waiting to board, I found myself speaking with an elderly man from Semenanjung — perhaps in his early 70s — about Sabah’s politics and the coming election.
From the way he spoke, I sensed he was part of the political machinery flown in briefly to “assist” the campaigns here. What he shared with me was chilling, so unsettling that I turned the entire conversation into a five-page PDF, which I later uploaded on our Vote.Sabah TikTok channel.
Sabahans deserve to know what is coming — what may happen to us — if we make the wrong choice again this time around.
Just today, a friend from Sarawak asked me this, “Why is Sabah so fragmented? Why don’t your leaders stand firm like ours in Sarawak? Why give in so easily to Semenanjung?”
I didn’t know how to answer.
Because the truth is painful: Sabah lacks a unified, courageous leadership that stands its ground.
And in the last five years, we’ve seen our own state government giving way, bending to decisions made by the federal government — many of which undermine Sabah’s rights.
We even had to take our rights to court just to claim what is already ours: the 40% revenue entitlement.
And don’t get me started on the 200,000+ Sabahans living outside the state who could not return to vote due to cost and time — yet the Election Commission still has no sustainable solution for them. Not to mention, a whole segment of our people, silenced.
And just like that, their constitutional rights to vote are “denied”. Just imagine the significance of those votes – when they do come in. And I thought the voting process should be user friendly and not challenging.
Now, as 29 November approaches, I worry.
I have not felt this level of anticipation since 2018, when Malaysians finally found the courage to bring down Barisan Nasional’s 60-year rule after the 1MDB scandal.
That year, the world watched us.
This year, Sabah is the one being watched.
Will we finally break free from the grip of Semenanjung (and its affiliates) influence?
Will we finally reject leaders linked to corruption — some of whom are still standing boldly as candidates?
Will we finally show that Sabahans can decide their own future?
This election is not just a political event.
It is a test of Sabah’s spirit.
I promise you this:
If Sabah rises on 29 November — If we finally choose unity over division, integrity over corruption, and courage over fear — I will not just celebrate.
I will cry tears of joy with the friends and teams who have worked tirelessly for this moment.
Because for the first time in a long time, we will taste hope again.
May God protect Sabah. May God save this land from corruption, greed, power struggles, and injustice.
And may we — the people of Sabah — finally rise together, not as fragments, but as one Sabah, one heart, one future.
