Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (abbrev: PBB; ) is a political party based in Sarawak, East Malaysia. It is currently the largest multiracial and bumiputera's political party in Sarawak. Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu was formed from the combination of three parties in Sarawak; Parti Negara Sarawak, Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak and Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak. The formation of the party was for the purpose of the improvement of the livelihood and protect the rights of the Bumiputera in many sectors such as politics, social, sports, education, infrastructures, financial & monetary autonomy, science, and technology. Formerly as a part of Peninsula-based coalition Barisan Nasional (BN), following the defeat of BN in the 2018 general election and in the aftermath of a meeting between all Sarawak-based BN coalition parties on 12 June 2018, PBB left the coalition to form a new Sarawak-based coalition, Gabungan Parti Sarawak.
PANAS which was formed on 9 April 1960 by Abang Abu Bakar bin Abang Mustapha, was the second political party to be formed after Sarawak United Peoples' Party.
BARJASA was formed on 4 December 1961 by Tuanku Bujang Tuanku Othman. Abdul Rahman Ya'kub and Abdul Taib Mahmud were among the earliest members of the party.
Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak was formed in Sibu in August 1962 to cater for the Ibans of Batang Rajang. Its promoters refused to join the Sarawak National Party, which they claimed only catered for Ibans from Saribas.
Among the initiators of the party were Penghulu Masam Anak Radin, Pengarah Banyang, Penghulu Chundi Anak Resa and Penghulu Umpau. Temenggong Jugah Barieng, Temenggong Oyong Lawai Jau and Jonathan Bangau joined later. While Jugah and Oyong Lawai Jau were incipiently members of PANAS, Bangau was from SUPP. Other Penghulus from other divisions such as Penghulu Tawi Sli (Second Division) and Penghulu Abok Anak Jalin (Bintulu) also joined PESAKA. PESAKA was therefore known as the Penghulusâ Party. However, the person who actually mooted the idea of forming PESAKA was Thomas Kana, a former dresser at Kuala Belait. He was made the first secretary-general of the party.
To ensure the domination of Muslim Bumiputra in Sarawak politics, PANAS and BARJASA initiated a plan of merger a few months after the local council elections of Sarawak in 1963. Initially, both parties were willing to dissolve themselves in order to allow United Malays National Organisation to enter Sarawak. However, UMNO was not interested in accepting non-Muslim-Malay Bumiputeras as members. Therefore, the Malaysian federal government recommended that the two parties combine to form a new separate party. After a series of negotiations, Parti Bumiputera Sarawak was formed on 30 March 1968. On the following day after the merger, Abang Ikhwan Zaini was elected as the President of Parti Bumiputera, Tuanku Bujang as Vice-President, and Abdul Taib Mahmud as the secretary-general of the party. According to Sanib Said (former curator of Sarawak State Museum):
Parti Bumiputera exercised a significant role in the Sarawak cabinet under the leadership of Sarawak Chief Minister Tawi Sli. Taib Mahmud dominated most of the decision making. Parti Bumiputera and Sarawak Chinese Association were the members of Sarawak Alliance. During the 1970 Sarawak state election, Parti Bumiputera won 12 seats while SCA won 3 seats out of a total of 48 seats. However, not a single party command a majority in Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly). Abdul Rahman from Parti Bumiputera was able to convince SUPP to form a state government with him as the chief minister.
Parti Bumiputera had already initiated negotiations with PESAKA about the merger of both parties in 1968. However, PESAKA refused to enter into a merger in fear that Muslim bumiputera members from Parti Bumiputera would dominate the new party, leaving its Iban and Bidayuh members sidelined. PESAKA decided to join Sarawak Alliance without a merger to preserve their interests in Sarawak politics. However, in the 1970 state election, PESAKA won only 8 seats, whereas 12 seats were won by Parti Bumiputera and another 12 seats by SNAP. PESAKA was not able to nominate a new chief minister from their own party unlike in 1966. Ultimately another negotiation was held between PESAKA and Parti Bumiputera in September 1972 and both sides eventually agreed to a merger on 5 January 1973. The new Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu party was then officially registered on 30 April 1973.
The party was divided into two wings namely:
Bumiputera is a Malaysian political term and literally translates to son of earth. Being mentioned in the party's name, this directly relates to the ethnic groups that are seen as native to the state of Sarawak. Members of the party are solely of ethnicity. In article 161a of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia, 21 ethnic groups are classified as "rakyat peribumi Sarawak" (natives of Sarawak), among these are the Ibans, Bidayuhs, Melanaus, Orang Ulus and several other Dayak people, as well as local Muslim-Malays of Sarawak.
The party structure of PBB is in many ways resembles to that of the national party United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) due to the influence exerted by Abdul Rahman Ya'kub. PBB has four levels of bureaucracy namely:
The party's general assembly is held every 3 years to assemble all party leaders and grassroot members to discuss party policies, responsibility of Supreme Council, and to elect party leaders into Supreme Council but does not influence party directions and policies. The party constitution was amended so that "the party's system of representation of at general assemblies in line with the system used by UMNO". Therefore, a chairman will be in-charge of the general assembly, allowing the party president take an active role during the assembly. The party's first ever general assembly was held from 13 to 14 July 1974, less than a month before the 1974 Malaysian general election. All the party's top posts were not contested at that time. In this general assembly, Abang Abu Bakar and Salleh Jafaruddin (Rahman's nephew) from bumiputera wing were elected to the party's executive committee. Alfred Jabu Numpang, from PESAKA wing was also elected to become youth chief of the party. He would later become deputy chief minister of Sarawak under the chieftainship of Taib Mahmud.
The Supreme Council consisted of:
During the formation of PBB, both Parti Bumiputera and PESAKA agreed to elect a PESAKA leader to become the president of the party. The party had 7 Vice-Presidents instead of the current 9 members. 4 Vice-President posts will be given to Bumiputera wing while 3 will be given to PESAKA wing. The Secretary-General post will be given to Bumiputera wing while Assistant Secretary-General posts will be divided among Bumiputera wing (1 person) and PESAKA wing (3 people). The rest of the party posts were given to Bumiputera wing while the Youth Chief post will be given to PESAKA wing.
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After the formation of PBB, Temenggong Jugah Barieng was appointed as the first president of the PBB while Taib Mahmud was appointed deputy president and Abdul Rahman Ya'kub was appointed the secretary-general of the party. In September 1975, Abdul Rahman suddenly announced his retirement from politics due to criticisms to his administration of the Sarawak state. Few weeks later, Temenggong Jugah also announced his retirement as the president of PBB. In October 1975, Taib Mahmud was appointed to the president of PBB to fill the vacancy left by Temenggong Jugah while Leonard Linggi, the son of Temenggong Jugah, was appointed to the secretary-general post, replacing Abdul Rahman. However, Abdul Rahman remained as the executive member of PBB and the leader of Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN). Alfred Jabu moved his rank to the deputy president post while Celestine Ujang fill the youth chief post left vacant by Alfred Jabu.
Two months later, Abdul Rahman changed his mind while he announced that he would not retire in the next five years. Abdul Rahman decided to take over the PBB presidency from Taib. For Taib, this was a dilemma but all the other party posts have been occupied. Taib demanded his uncle Abdul Rahman to create another deputy president post for him by changing the party constitution. Finally during the 1977 PBB general assembly meeting, another deputy president post was created and given to Taib while Abdul Rahman became the president of the party.
Rahman retired from politics on 26 March 1981 and his nephew Taib Mahmud succeeded him as the PBB president for the second time. After holding the post for 33 years, Taib Mahmud retired from politics while allowing his former brother-in-law, Adenan Satem to take over the party on 1 March 2014 and he would hold the post until his death on 11 January 2017.
Following the death of Adenan Satem, Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Abang Openg was appointed as the 6th President of PBB on 13 January 2017.
PBB has 14 MPs in the House of Representatives.
Sarawak State Legislative Assembly
PBB and its predecessors PESAKA and BUMIPUTERA has led the Sarawak state government since 1966, before which they were junior partner under SNAP-led government.
PBB precursors:
Note: bold as Premier/Chief Minister, italic as junior partner