The Sino-Native Impacts on the Development of Identity Politics in Sabah, Malaysia

The concept of Sino-Native generally refers to one who is being part Chinese and part Native.Accordingly, the Sino-Native includes those born of mixed-parentage and that with such an identification, they should enjoy special rights analogous to the position of the Malay as they are being conferred bumiputra status enshrined in Federal Constitution of Malaysia.Such an identity, on the contrary, has resulted in the dilution of not only the traditional culture of the local natives, but also the Chinese.Thus, many argued that the Sino-Native identity could contribute significantly to the strengthening of any political party's grips over Malaysian politics by the manipulation of such an identity.Some even suggest that the emergence of Sino-Native has further inclined the politicians towards identity politics in this country.These debates raise hypothetical issues in which this paper interested to address from the lens of Sabah in Malaysia by focusing on the question of a) what exactly are the concept of Sino-Native and identity politics in Sabah, b) how the Sino-Native has impacted the development of identity politics in Sabah, Malaysia , andc) what are the unfavourable impacts of Sino-Native addition into the growing of identity politics activities in Sabah, Malaysia.The paper concluded by recommending some promising strategies to minimize these unfavourable impacts of Sino-Native inclusion into the growing of identity politics activities in Sabah, Malaysia.