Death Without Departure: Bung Moktar and the Persistence of His East Coast Political Authority

The passing of Bung Moktar Radin in December 2025 marked the end of one of Sabah’s most recognisable and polarising political careers. First elected as a Kinabatangan MP in 1999, he held the seat for six consecutive terms and later served as Sabah UMNO and Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman. Yet in Sabah’s eastern interior, his death did not signal political closure. The January 2026 by-elections in Kinabatangan and Lamag, along with his son’s swift entry into Parliament, revealed the durability of a political order built on personal authority, patronage and long-standing local loyalty. Lamag, one of the three state seats within the wider Kinabatangan parliamentary corridor, became a site for observing how constituency-level loyalties and organisational machinery can outlive the people who once anchored them.

Bung Moktar steadily honed his political survivor instincts. Across two decades, he built name recognition and local networks in the east coast interior and in 2020, expanded into state-level politics by winning the Lamag seat. Following BN’s collapse in the 2018 general election (GE) and the wave of defections that reshaped Sabah’s politics, he was among the few senior UMNO leaders who refused to abandon the party. Among his constituents in Kinabatangan and Lamag, Bung’s political credibility was closely tied to this steadfast loyalty. His refusal to engage in malumpat parti (party-hopping) became a defining virtue: evidence of integrity and reliability amid a volatile political environment.

As chairman of Sabah UMNO and BN, Bung positioned himself as the custodian of organisational continuity, famously asserting that UMNO’s “kapal belum tenggelam” (the ship has not sunk). This was not merely rhetorical. After BN lost control of the Sabah state government in 2018 and Warisan formed the new administration, he focused on preserving party machinery and grassroots networks from the opposition benches, laying the groundwork for UMNO’s return to government after the 2020 Sabah state election, which led to his appointment as Deputy Chief Minister I and State Works Minister.

Yet Bung Moktar’s authority was rarely consensus-oriented; his leadership style was confrontational and transactional. This was most clearly demonstrated during the January 2023 political crisis, when UMNO withdrew support from Chief Minister Hajiji Noor’s government. Although the move ultimately failed and led to Bung’s removal from the Cabinet, it underscored his willingness to destabilise allied administrations when UMNO’s position appeared marginalised.

Public perceptions of Bung Moktar were sharply divided. At the national level and among urban audiences, he was frequently associated with crude and inflammatory remarks in Parliament, episodes that were circulated widely online and reinforced his image as emblematic of entrenched political norms increasingly rejected by younger and urban Malaysians. These controversies, including offensive language in parliamentary proceedings and a widely condemned 2014 social media post praising Adolf Hitler, drew repeated criticism from political elites.

However, this durability should not be mistaken for permanence.

In contrast, perceptions within Kinabatangan and Lamag were shaped more by tangible outcomes. Among rural voters, particularly Muslim Bumiputera communities and river-based indigenous groups often referred to locally as the Orang Sungai, Bung was regarded as a leader who delivered visible development and direct assistance. In Kinabatangan, where politics is closely tied to local networks and place-based legitimacy, Bung actively framed himself as part of that social landscape. In 2024, he emphasised his local roots and positioned himself as a Sabahan leader rather than an outsider aligned with Peninsular politics.

Bung Moktar’s career was complicated by corruption charges brought against him and his wife in 2019, involving RM2.8 million linked to Felcra Berhad investments, a case that stretched across multiple election cycles. Critics saw this as elite impunity, but his supporters dismissed it as politically motivated. Following Bung’s death, the charges against him were dropped, while the case against his wife continued, sustaining the wider dispute over accountability.

These localised perceptions shaped the January 2026 by-elections in Kinabatangan and Lamag, which several commentaries described as an “emotional tsunami” of support and a form of dynastic coronation. BN’s candidate, Bung Moktar’s son Mohd Kurniawan Naim Moktar, retained the Kinabatangan seat with a majority of 14,214 votes, more than triple Bung’s 4,330 majority at the 2022 GE, while BN also held Lamag comfortably. The widened margin suggests sympathy voting and legacy effects at play, reinforced by the relatively limited contestation from Sabah’s ruling coalition, which sat out both by-elections out of respect for Bung. In this way, BN converted personal loyalty into electoral continuity; Naim’s swift entry into Parliament enhanced the image of a seamless transition.

Looking ahead to the next GE, Bung Moktar’s absence is unlikely to weaken BN’s position in Sabah’s east coast in the immediate term and may instead temporarily consolidate it. The January 2026 by-elections indicate that his political capital has been transferred, with BN securing a “double win” by converting personal authority into dynastic continuity. For at least one electoral cycle, his name may continue to carry weight in constituencies shaped by local ties and patronage.

However, this durability should not be mistaken for permanence. The “Bung Effect” is time-bound. Sympathy voting can secure an initial mandate, but sustaining it will depend on whether his successor can reproduce the constituency politics that underpinned Bung’s authority: presence, responsiveness, and delivery.

More broadly, Bung Moktar’s political afterlife highlights the continued strength of personality-driven politics in rural Sabah. His influence appears to persist, demonstrating how political power in rural Sabah often survives the people who embody it. The January 2026 by-elections show that electoral authority can be transferred through remembrance, local networks, and the everyday expectations of constituency delivery. Bung Moktar may have passed on, but the political order he represented remains intact, as Sabah moves toward the next GE.

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