Introduction

Malaysian politics has been characterized by a unique and practical party coalition model, which emerged during the British colonial period, primarily represented by the Barisan Nasional coalition, which broadly dominated its multiethnic society for several decades. Its fall, and the subsequent emergence of a popular discourse of Sarawak regionalism, has since complicated local political science research. This chapter provides the rationale for the study’s focus on politics in Sibu, in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, and underscores the significance of analyzing the Barisan Nasional’s prolonged and widespread political dominance. Using a disaggregated approach to studying Sarawak’s political ecosystem, it highlights the significance of analyzing local dynamics (e.g., local strongmen, ethnicity-based parties, strategies for political dominance). Having contextualized the historical and contemporary political factors shaping Sarawak and Malaysia’s unique political system and social landscape, it discusses the continued relevance of Arendt Lijphart’s “consociational democracy” model in the present. Sarawak provides a unique case study, where the basis of political support is not just limited to ethnicity and patronage, but also to the subnational region, thus suggesting the continued dynamism of consociationalism.