1986 Sabah riots

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The 1986 Sabah riots occurred between March and May in various locations around the state of Sabah, Malaysia. The riots centred mainly in the capital Kota Kinabalu, as well as in the towns of Tawau and Sandakan. On 12 March, seven plastic explosives were detonated in Kota Kinabalu. A bomb was also detonated in Tawau. At least five bombs exploded in Sandakan killing one newspaper vendor and injuring a senior Police Field Force officer. The riots resulted in the death of 5 people.^[1]

The riots occurred in response to the results of the 1985 state election, whereby the newly formed Parti Bersatu Sabah (United Sabah Party) won, ousting Parti Berjaya from the helm of government. Berjaya was the previous ruling party and a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN), the nation's and federal ruling coalition party. It was reported that mobs took to the streets to bring down the president of PBS Pairin Kitingan from the Chief Minister post.^[2]

It was also suspected that the riots were triggered by the losing parties including BN to bring forth a proclamation of emergency to justify a takeover by the federal government^[3] similar to those which happened in 1966 in Sarawak and 1977 in Kelantan.^[4]

PBS later sought to have snap election because of political manoeuvring causing PBS representatives to defect.^[5] Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed also tried to negotiate with PBS to form a coalition with BN in return for peace in the state.^[3] Finally the election was held on 4 and 5 May 1986. PBS won again and this time with a bigger margin.^[6]

A documentary on the 1986 riots was created by Sabahan film-maker Nadira Ilana released in 2012 called The Silent Riot. The film emerged as one of the winning proposals for the Freedom Film Fest (FFF) 2012.^[7]

References

History of East Malaysia
Main history1	Empire of Brunei Japanese occupation Borneo campaign British Military Administration Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation Malaysia Agreement Proclamation of Malaysia
History of Sabah	Brunei Civil War Sultanate of Sulu Austrian colony North Borneo Chartered Company British North Borneo Antanum Mat Salleh Madrid Protocol Jesselton Revolt Sandakan camp Sandakan Death Marches Battle of North Borneo Crown Colony of North Borneo Self-government of North Borneo Cobbold Commission 20-point agreement Keningau Oath Stone Double Six Crash Cross border attacks from the Philippines 1985 Lahad Datu ambush 2000 Sipadan kidnappings 2013 Lahad Datu standoff 1986 Sabah riots 1991 Sabah political arrests Sabah State Water Department corruption probe
History of Sarawak	Kingdom of Sarawak Rentap Liu Shan Bang Syarif Masahor Crown Colony of Sarawak Anti-cession movement of Sarawak Communist insurgency in Sarawak Self-government of Sarawak Cobbold Commission 18-point agreement 1966 Sarawak constitutional crisis 1987 Ming Court Affair
History of Labuan	Crown Colony of Labuan North Borneo Chartered Company Administered under Straits Settlements Battle of North Borneo Battle of Labuan Administered under Crown Colony of North Borneo Part of Sabah Became Federal Territory
1: Covers the three territories.

Protests in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur	1946–47 anti-Malayan Union protests 1947 All-Malaya Hartal 1967 Keranda 152 rally 1969 Malaysian students pre-election demonstrations 13 May 1969 riots 1969 PMUM Anti-Tunku demonstrations 1970 PMUM vs PBMUM Papan Tanda demonstrations 1971 Malaysian constitutional crisis 1983 Malaysian constitutional crisis 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis 1993 Malaysian constitutional crisis 1998–2000s Reformasi demonstrations 2001 Kampung Medan riots 2007 BERSIH 1.0 rally 2007 HINDRAF rally 2008 Black 14 rally 2008 Malaysian fuel hike protests 2009 Keranda 152 rally 2009 anti-ISA rally 2009 anti-Menteri Besar Terengganu rally 2011 anti-Peaceful Assembly Act rally 2011 BERSIH 2.0 rally Occupy Dataran 2012 Free Anwar 901 rally 2012 BERSIH 3.0 rally 2012 anti-Lynas rally 2013 anti-Jamalul Kiram III infiltration protests 2013 KL 112, People’s Uprising rally 2013 Blackout 505 rallies 2013 Ops Turun, anti-price hike rally 2014 Red Pencil protest 2014 May Day anti-GST rally 2015 Rakyat Hakim Negara rally 2015 Kita Lawan, May Day anti-GST rally 2015 #TangkapNajib rally 2015 Low Yat Plaza riot 2015 BERSIH 4.0 rally 2015 United People's rally 2015 Shutdown Sungai Besi rally 2016 anti-TPPA rally 2016 Keranda 152 rally 2016 Muafakat Selamatkan Malaysia rally 2016 Hancur GST, Undur Najib, Undur Rosmah, Bebas Anwar, Hidup Rakyat rally 2016 BERSIH 5.0 rally
Other	1946–50 anti-cession movement of Sarawak 1963 anti-Indonesia infiltration demonstrations 1964 race riots in Singapore 1966 Sarawak constitutional crisis 1967 Teluk Gong demonstrations 1967 Penang Hartal riot 1974 Baling demonstrations 1974 Tasek Utara, Johor demonstrations 1977 Kelantan riots 1985 Memali riots 1986 Sabah riots 1993 Sultan of Kelantan demonstrations 1998 Kampung Rawa riots 2009 Perak constitutional crisis 2009 1BLACKMalaysia protests 2009 cow's head protests 2009 anti-PPSMI rally 2010 Water for People rally 2011 Gathering of a Million Faithful 2012 Orange rally 2012 Green Rally to Putrajaya 2012 People's Lands rally 2015 Taman Medan anti-cross protest 2015 Sarawak for Sarawakians rally 2015 Penang villagers protests
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