Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB; English: United Bumiputera Heritage Party) is a right-wing political party in Malaysia. It is currently the largest 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 fields such as politics, economy and social. Formerly a part of Semenanjung-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, Sarawak Parties Alliance.^[1]

Quick Facts United Bumiputera Heritage Party, Malay name ...

United Bumiputera Heritage Party
Malay name	Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu ڤرتي ڤساک بوميڤوترا برساتو‎
Abbreviation	PBB
President	Abang Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Openg
Chairperson	Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar
Secretary-General	Alexander Nanta Linggi
Spokesperson	Haji Idris Buang
Deputy President	1. Douglas Uggah Embas 2. Awang Tengah Ali Hasan
Vice-President	Fadillah Yusof Stephen Rundi Utom Julaihi Narawi Gerawat Gala Gerald Rentap Jabu Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah Annuar Rapaee Abdul Rahman Junaidi
Women Leader	Fatimah Abdullah
Youth Leader	Miro Simuh
Treasurer-General	Abdul Hamid Sepawi
Founder	Jugah Anak Barieng
Founded	5 January 1973
Legalised	30 April 1973
Merger of	Parti Bumiputera Sarawak (BUMIPUTERA)1 2 Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak (PESAKA)3
Headquarters	Kuching, Sarawak
Newspaper	Jiwa Bakti
Youth wing	Pemuda PBB
Women's wing	Wanita PBB
Membership	452,280 (August 2023)
Ideology	Sarawak nationalism Bumiputera interests Regionalism National conservatism Civic nationalism Sarawak marhaenism Multiracialism
Political position	Right-wing
National affiliation	Barisan Nasional (1973–2018) Gabungan Parti Sarawak (2018–present) PH–BN unity alliance (2022–present) (alliance partner)
Colours	Yellow, red, white and black
Slogan	• Striving for Unity Berkorban Bersatu (in Malay) • Bersatu, Bersetia, Berkhidmat • Berjihadlah • Bersatu untuk Rakyat Malaysia
Anthem	March PBB (PBB March; Official anthem) Ikrar Wanita (Women's Oath; Women Movement)
Dewan Negara:	4 / 70
Dewan Rakyat:	14 / 31 (Sarawak seats)
Sarawak State Legislative Assembly:	47 / 82
Premier of Sarawak:	1 / 10
Website
pbb.org.my
Politics of Malaysia Political parties Elections 1 Parti Negara Sarawak and Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak merged to form Parti Bumiputera Sarawak. 2 Parti Bumiputera Sarawak consisted of local Sarawak Malay, Melanau, Kedayan, Brunei Malay and Orang Ulu members. 2 Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak consisted of Iban and Bidayuh members.

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Bumiputera is a Malaysian political term and 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 Sarawak Bumiputera 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.

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 Haji Bujang as vice-president, and Taib Mahmud as the secretary-general of the party.^[3] According to Sanib Said (former curator of Sarawak State Museum):

The formation of Parti Bumiputera was gratefully accepted by the Muslim-Malays of Sarawak. Except for a few prominent dissenters, especially some of the former members of PANAS, the new party was supported by both the aristocrats and the young intelligentsia, the latter holding the more important posts in it. It may be justifiably said that at last the young intelligentsia had triumphed. But basically the formation of Parti Bumiputera was a final reconciliation between the two groups and it opened the way for a new era of Malay politics in Sarawak.^[3]

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.^[3]

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.^[3]

The party was divided into two wings namely:^[3]

• BUMIPUTERA wing which consisted of Muslim-Malay, Melanau, Kedayan, Brunei-Malay, Jatti Mereik, and Orang Ulu members
• PESAKA wing which consisted of Iban, Bidayuh, Kenyah, and Kelabit members

• To protect and defend Malaysia's independence, sovereignty, and character.^[3]
• To uphold both the federal and state constitution.
• To combating against corruption, racism, illegal money laundering, and political power abuse among all party's members.
• To protect and defend the principles enshrined in the federal and state constitution, especially on position, fundamental rights, and special privileges of Bumiputera.
• To protect and guarantee the future rights of bumiputera.^[3]
• To develop all Sarawakian, specifically, and also all Malaysian, generally, in all various fields, mostly in education, politics, financial, economic & trades, social, public safety, youth & women communities, cultures & arts, and sports.
• To promote and protect the feeling of harmony and unity spirits of all Sarawakians towards creating a strong united region in Sarawak.
• To promoting the harmonious, peaceful, safe and prosperous Malaysia to all around the world.
• To protect the rule of parliamentary democracy.
• To protect, strengthen, and giving justice for the region of Sarawak, as based on Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63).
• To support and defend the United Nation's charter.
• To take effective steps in eradicating subversive movements which could compromise Malaysia's security.^[3]

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:^[3]

• General Assembly (similar to UMNO General Assembly)
• Supreme Council (similar to UMNO Supreme Council)
• Branches (set up in each state constituencies in Sarawak, similar to UMNO divisions which is set up in each parliamentary constituency in Malaysia except for the state of Sarawak.)
• Sub-branches (similar to UMNO branches)
• Each level will have its own youth and women wings

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.^[3]

The Supreme Council consisted of:^[3]

• Yang di-Pertua (also known as president)
• Deputy Yang di-Pertua (also known as Deputy president)
• Vice-Yang di-Pertuas (also known as vice-presidents, consisted of 9 people)
• Secretary-general
• Deputy secretary-general
• Assistant secretary-general (5 people)
• Treasurer
• Assistant treasurer
• Publicity chief
• Assistant publicity chief
• Appointed executive committee members (11 people)
• Elected executive committee members (20 people)

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 youth chief post will be given to PESAKA wing.^[3]