Pakatan Harapan was the biggest loser in the Sabah election, but the one that suffered humiliating defeat was the Democratic Action Party (DAP), which suffered a complete wipeout—losing all eight seats it contested and almost vanishing from Sabah.

This is DAP’s most painful lesson: Chinese votes can come, and they can also go. When a tropical whirlwind hits, what seemed like deep-rooted “safe seats” can be uprooted entirely.

Chinese voters gave their support to Parti Warisan. For example, in Luyang—where the Chinese voter ratio is the highest—Warisan’s candidate received more than double the votes of DAP’s candidate.

All eight seats contested by DAP were lost by huge margins. Even state chairman Datuk Phoong Jin Zhe, vice-chairman and deputy federal minister Datuk Chan Foong Hin and Sandakan MP Vivian Wong suffered crushing defeats with almost no resistance.

Losses of this magnitude cannot be blamed on luck or strategy. They amount to being abandoned.

DAP has only itself to blame. Ever since joining the Unity Government at the federal level, it has grown increasingly distant from the Chinese community—unable to hear their voices and even when it does hear them, it fails to take them in.

The greater the Chinese community’s expectations of DAP, the greater their disappointment.

Many policy distortions—from economic participation to educational imbalance—have not been corrected since DAP came to power; instead, they have worsened.

For example, the Unified Examination Certificate issue has dragged on like “a dog barking at a speeding train,” drifting further away; popular university courses are increasingly closed to Chinese students; and DAP now speaks the language of the bureaucracy.

On matters involving erosion of ethnic rights, Chinese community in Sabah shares the same sentiments as Chinese nationwide—their disappointment toward DAP has deepened into dissatisfaction.

Meanwhile, Sabah Chinese’s strong sense of local identity has not been respected by DAP. Senior DAP leaders from Peninsular Malaysia who went to Sabah to campaign even mocked Sabah’s local sentiments, criticising the “Sabah for Sabahans” ideology while defending the appeal by federal government over the 40% net revenue entitlement.

However, on Sabah’s backward basic infrastructure—its water, electricity and roads resembling Third World standards, and a poverty rate ranking second-highest in the country—DAP, as part of the government, offered only lip service and no concrete plans for improvement.

Sabah Chinese watched the DAP’s campaign team arrive with a “Malayan government” mindset, pointing fingers at Sabah and asking Sabahans for support—yet unable to give any convincing reasons, and doing so with arrogance. How could Sabah Chinese possibly vote for them?

Furthermore, when in opposition, DAP held high the banner of anti-corruption. Any hint of corruption would trigger loud calls for arrests—this was one of DAP’s trademarks.

But when the GRS state government was collectively mired in corruption allegations, DAP kept silent.

 When the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s senior political secretary, Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, was implicated in corruption, some in DAP even defended him.

On the eve of polling, the dramatic arrest of Albert Tei by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission solidified their voting decisions.

DAP’s humiliating defeat in Sabah is a wake-up call. It reminds DAP that the “95% Chinese support” is not a fixed deposit and not permanent. Once the limit is reached, the votes will swing the opposite way and become a force against DAP. For now, this is an alarm bell.

If DAP still refuses to change—treating political promises as storytelling and dismissing Chinese demands as background noise—then after Sabah will come the entire country.

After the alarm bell comes the death knell.

Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s situation is not much better. It contested 13 seats and won only one. Despite Anwar throwing the full weight of the government into the campaign, securing that single seat is nothing to boast about.

The road ahead—for the upcoming Malacca and Johor elections and the next general election—will be extremely tough.

Warisan performed well in Chinese-majority constituencies, but its results in Malay-Muslim and Kadazan areas were mediocre, costing it the chance to form the government. Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal ultimately fell short.

While Sabah’s natives desire autonomy, the mainstream does not rally behind Shafie, preventing him from repeating his 2018 success.

Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) can be considered the winner—especially its backbone party, Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (PGRS) led by Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor, which won the most seats.

 It secured the support of mainstream Malay-Muslims, who are Sabah’s largest demographic. Like the Three Kingdoms era: Whoever controls Hanzhong controls the empire.

The political sentiments of Sabah’s Malay-Muslims differ from other groups including the Bajau Muslims in the east.

They support a local party but also want one led by Malay-Muslims. Hajiji’s slogan “rumah kita, kita jaga” (our home, we protect) struck a local note, while his cooperation with the federal government reassured Malay-Muslims on both economic and political fronts—safe at both ends.

As for Barisan Nasional, it is like a ship stranded on the shore—though not yet sunk, it cannot go far. In the next election, it may be swallowed by GRS.

The biggest winner, however, is the people of Sabah.

Sabah has chosen a path between Sarawak and Peninsular states—cooperating with the federal government and remaining linked to it, while insisting on its autonomous rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.

 Whichever party aligns with the people’s wishes will be entrusted to form the government.