Who Has More Money, Wins the Vote? Assessing the Decline of Voter Quality in Sabah

By Mohd Khairy Abdullah @ DG Henry
(In conjunction with Malaysia Day 2025)

SOOK (Sabah, Malaysia), 15 Sept – Election Day is often celebrated as a festival of democracy, yet in Sabah this festival is increasingly straying from its original purpose. The quality of voters has shown a worrying decline in recent years. Many now regard voting merely as a five-yearly routine, rather than a fundamental civic duty. Some even see polling day as nothing more than an opportunity to receive immediate rewards, instead of evaluating policies and electing competent leadership.

This trend undermines the integrity of democracy. When voters do not take their responsibility seriously, it creates fertile ground for candidates who rely on money politics to secure votes. The cynical slogan “whoever has more money, wins the vote” is no longer just rhetoric, but a bitter political reality in Sabah. As a result, constituencies often remain neglected in development while their representatives focus more on consolidating power than advancing the people’s agenda.

One of the main reasons voters are easily swayed is poverty. Sabah remains the poorest state in Malaysia, with an absolute poverty rate of 19.5% in 2020 according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) – far higher than the national average of 5.6%. This condition exposes many Sabahans, especially in rural areas, to the manipulations of money politics. A study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB, 2022) found that low-income communities are more likely to accept material inducements due to pressing basic needs, effectively commodifying their votes.

According to Merdeka Center (2023), nearly 38% of young voters in Sabah admitted to being influenced by material inducements when making political choices. The Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2022 gave Malaysia a score of 47/100, reflecting serious challenges in curbing money politics. Meanwhile, International IDEA (2021) identified vote-buying as one of the most pressing threats to democracy in Southeast Asia.

This issue is not unique to Sabah. In South Korea, high civic awareness enabled the people to topple a corrupt administration in the 2017 elections through a mature democratic process. In contrast, in Nigeria, a UNODC (2020) report revealed that more than 40% of voters were offered cash or goods during elections – a pattern that closely mirrors Sabah. These comparisons highlight how voter quality determines whether democracy becomes a tool for reform or a stagnant cycle of power.

The root causes of declining voter quality in Sabah are low levels of political education, entrenched poverty, and a persistent culture of patronage. From a political science perspective, such voters are often seen as “disloyal” to their constituencies, state, and nation – not out of intention, but due to a lack of awareness and the burden of poverty that forces them to trade votes for short-term relief.

As Malaysia commemorates Malaysia Day 2025, this moment should be seized as a turning point for political awakening. Voting must no longer be treated as a festival, but as a moral and political mandate to shape the nation’s future. Civic education must be strengthened, NGOs and academic institutions should play a greater role in voter awareness, and legal enforcement against money politics must be uncompromising. At the same time, poverty eradication strategies in Sabah must go hand in hand with political reform – for only by uplifting living standards can vote-buying practices be dismantled.

Only by cultivating voters who are critical, informed, principled, and free from the grip of poverty can Sabah and Malaysia produce leaders of integrity who truly serve the people. This is the very essence of Malaysia Day – a reminder that democracy does not rest solely on leaders, but equally on the quality of the people who elect them. “Selamat Hari Malaysia 2025”.