Establishment of the Sabah UMNO branch

After the 1990 state election when BERJAYA themselves were ousted by United Sabah Party (PBS), USNO Chairman Mustapha Harun returned to team-up with BERJAYA Chairman Harris Salleh in a merger of USNO and BERJAYA for his long-envisaged initiative to create the Sabah chapter of peninsula-based United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) with Mustapha himself became its first chief of UMNO Sabah.^[2] In 1996, USNO was finally de-registered by the federal Registrar of Societies (RoS). Six of its legislators joined the Sabah UMNO while the rest joined the opposition PBS.^[3]

Mass resignations of BN members and Sabah UMNO leadership from the party

On 11 December 2018, BN chairman and Sabah UMNO chairman Hajiji Noor along with Musbah Jamli, Japlin Akin, Ghulam Haidar Khan Bahadar, Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif, Datuk Isnin Aliasnih, Matbali Musah, Masidi Manjun, Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan, Abdul Rahim Bakri, Azizah Mohd Dun, Seri Ronald Kiandee, Zakaria Mohd Edris, Hafez Yamani Musa, John Ambrose, and Abdul Ghani Mohd Yassin led and announced the mass resignations of BN members and the entire leadership of Sabah UMNO from the party and declared to be an independent politician. Hajiji said "Unfortunately, UMNO is now like it used to be. The existing leadership does not have a clear political direction. We are not sure where UMNO is headed. There are conflicting statements about his future, depending on who you talk to in the current leadership,".^[4]

After the announcement, media reports suggested that Sabah UMNO had collapsed or been dissolved. However, UMNO President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi denied the suggestion and Sabah UMNO will not be disbanded due to the group's actions. He also stressed that Sabah UMNO would remain to exist and its leadership would be restructured by remaining members. On 12 December 2018 Member of Parliament for Kinabatangan, Bung Moktar Radin, was appointed as the new Sabah UMNO Chairman to replace Hajiji Mohd Noor. For other positions, Sepanggar Division UMNO Chief, Yakub Khan was appointed as UMNO Sabah Deputy Chairman, Kinabatangan Division UMNO Deputy Chief, Jafry Ariffin as UMNO Sabah Secretary and Tenom UMNO Division Chief,Raimi Unggi as State UMNO Information Chief.^[5]

Sabah political crisis

On 6 January 2023, state government of Sabah led by Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) collapsed when its coalition party Barisan Nasional (BN) withdrew its support.^[6] The Leader of UMNO Sabah, a component party of BN, Bung Moktar Radin, Kinabatangan Member of Parliemnt and Lamag Assemblyman, cited a lack of confidence in the leadership of Chief Minister of Sabah Hajiji Noor in the withdrawal.^[7]

As of 6 February, there are no changes in the status quo regarding the government of Sabah, following the decision of 5 UMNO MLAs (Shahelmey Yahya (Tanjung Keramat), Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit), Yusof Yacob (Sindumin), James Ratib (Sugut) and Mohd Arsad Bistari (Tempasuk)) who publicly supported Hajiji despite Bung's decision, and reshuffle of the state cabinet on 11 January as a result.^[8]

On 12 February 2023, Barisan Nasional Secretary General, Zambry Abd. Kadir said Barisan Nasional decided to support the Sabah Government led by Hajiji Noor as Sabah Chief Minister.^[9]

On 21 February 2023, Yusof Yacob, along with other 8 MLAs support Hajiji. At the same time, he, along with James, Jasnih, Arshad, Hamid Awang, Mohammad Mohamarin, Ben Chong and Norazlinah joined Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah or Sabah People's Ideas' Party (PGRS).^[10]

List of Chairmen

No.	Portrait	Chairmen	Term start	Term end	Time in office	Deputy Chairmen
1		Mustapha Harun (born 1918, death 1995) MLA for Bengkoka-Banggi, 1967–1976 MLA for Banggi, 1976–1981 MLA for Usukan, 1985–1986, 1987–1994	1990	1994	4 years	Unknown
2		Sakaran Dandai (born 1930, death 2021) MLA for Semporna, 1967–1985 MLA for Sulabayan, 1985–1990, 1994	1994	2002	8 years	Shafie Apdal (1995-2001)
3		Musa Aman (born 1951) MLA for Sungai Sibuga, 1994-2020	2003	9 December 2018	15 years	Shafie Apdal (2004/2005-2014/2015) Bung Moktar Radin (unknown date)
4		Hajiji Noor (born 1956) MLA for Sulaman, since 1990	10 December 2018	11 December 2018	1 day (Resigning due to supporting GBS coalition)	Yamani Hafez Musa (2018) (resigned due to pro-GBS movement)
During this interval, the position was vacant. (11–12 December 2018)
5		Bung Moktar Radin (born 1958) MP for Kinabatangan, since 1999	12 December 2018	Incumbent	5 years, 27 days	Yakub Khan (2018–2023) Abdul Rahman Dahlan (since 2023)

Dewan Negara (Senate)

Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives)

Members of Parliament of the 15th Malaysian Parliament

Main article: Members of the Dewan Rakyat, 15th Malaysian Parliament

Sabah UMNO has 6 members in the House of Representatives.

State	No.	Parliament Constituency	Member	Party
Sabah
	P173	Putatan	Shahelmey Yahya		UMNO
	P176	Kimanis	Mohamad Alamin		UMNO
	P177	Beaufort	Siti Aminah Aching		UMNO
	P184	Libaran	Suhaimi Nasir		UMNO
	P187	Kinabatangan	Bung Moktar Radin		UMNO
	P191	Kalabakan	Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy		UMNO
Total	Sabah (6)

Dewan Undangan Negeri (State Legislative Assembly)

State	No.	Parliament Constituency	No.	State Constituency	Member	Party
Sabah	P167	Kudat	N2	Bengkoka	Harun Durabi		UMNO
	P169	Kota Belud
			N10	Usukan	Salleh Said Keruak		UMNO
	P171	Sepanggar	N16	Karambunai	Yakubah Khan		UMNO
	P173	Putatan	N24	Tanjung Keramat	Shahelmey Yahya		UMNO
	P175	Papar	N29	Pantai Manis	Mohd Tamin @ Tamin Zainal		UMNO
	P184	Libaran	N51	Sungai Manila	Mokran Ingkat		UMNO
			N52	Sungai Sibuga	Mohamad Hamsan Awang Supain		UMNO
	P187	Kinabatangan	N58	Lamag	Bung Mokhtar Radin		UMNO
			N59	Sukau	Jafry Ariffin		UMNO
	P188	Lahad Datu	N61	Segama	Mohamaddin Ketapi		UMNO
	P191	Kalabakan	N71	Tanjong Batu	Andi Muhammad Suryady Bandy		UMNO
	—			Nominated Member	Raime Unggi		UMNO
				Nominated Member	Suhaimi Nasir		UMNO
	Total	Sabah (13)