LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY


THE EVOLUTION OF THE


SABAH STATE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY


Sabah is the second largest state in the Federation of Malaysia with a legislative assembly whose origins can be traced back to 1883


Datuk Bernard J. Dalinting is Secretary of The Sabah State Legislative Assembly


Introduction


The state of Sabah is synonymous with the phrase “Land Below the Wind” a term used by sailors in the 1930’s and made famous in a book by author Agnes Keith of the same title to describe the then British North Borneo as that area of land South of the typhoon belt. Geographically, it is located at the Northern portion of the island of Borneo the third largest island in the world at 5° 15’ and 117° 0’E boarding to the east the Philippines and the South the rich oil nation of Brunei, Sarawak and Indonesian Kalimantan.


With a total area of 73,631 KM (28,429 sq. miles) Sabah is the second largest state in the Federation of Malaysia after the state of Sarawak.


VIII | The Parliamentarian | 2015: Issue One - Sabah


Datuk Bernard J. Dalinting


Comparative to its land size, Sabah is considered to be sparsely populated with the most populous areas in and around the capital city of Kota Kinabalu in the west coast, the municipality towns of Sandakan and Tawau in the east of the state. Its population of 3,206,742 million people


(2010 census) is relatively small compared to the national population of 30,267,367 (2014 estimation) but is the third most populous state in Malaysia after Selangor and Johor. Sabah has about 35 ethnic groups such as the kadazandusun , bajau, Chinese, Murut, Brunei malays, and others each with their distinct different languages, customs and traditions but living harmoniously with each other. Sabah is blessed with diverse landscape of tropical forest, rugged mountains, green flatlands and pristine seas teaming with indigenous flora and fauna of which can only be found in this part of the world. Mount Kinabalu the highest mountain in South- East Asia stands at 4,093 meters above sea level. Sabah has a tropical


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