Sabah from the Ground: The 2020 Elections and the Politics of Survival

Sabah's 2020 election was Malaysia's pandemic election. While attention has centred on the impact the election had on the increase of COVID-19, this collection brings together scholars, journalists and social scientists who were on the ground on Sabah to analyse what happened, why, and the broader implications of the outcome for Sabah and Malaysian politics. The book is the first in-depth study of a Sabah election. It is multidisciplinary, with authors from different perspectives, and the majority of the authors are from Sabah.

Traditional explanations prioritize the federal-state relationship in shaping Sabah politics. This collection challenges this paradigm, suggesting that politics in Sabah should be better understood as a reflection of conditions within Sabah—as Sabahans struggle to navigate and survive on Malaysia's periphery.

• Bridget Welsh, Editor

  Bridget Welsh is an Honorary Research Associate with University of Nottingham Asia Research Institute Malaysia (UoNARI-M), a Senior Research Associate of the Hu Feng Center for East Asia Democratic Studies of National Taiwan University and a Senior Associate Fellow of the Habibie Center.

• Vilashini Somiah, Editor

  Vilashini Somiah is a Senior Lecturer at the Gender Studies Programme at the University of Malaya.

• Benjamin Y H Loh, Editor

  Benjamin Loh is Head of the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Monitoring Division at the ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta."