Harun Durabi

Summary

Datuk Harun bin Durabi (born 11 January 1963) is a Sabah UMNO politician who has represented the Bengkoka state seat under BN since the constituency's inaugural election in 2020. He held assistant minister portfolios in Rural Development and Science, Technology and Innovation during the 16th Sabah Assembly and successfully defended his seat at the November 2025 state election with a 77-vote majority, with a subsequent election petition against the result struck out by the Election Court in February 2026.

Biography

Datuk Harun bin Durabi (born 11 January 1963; Wikidata records an alternate date of 1 November 1963) is a Malaysian politician and member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component of the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition [1]. He has served as the Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Bengkoka since September 2020, when the seat was contested for the first time following electoral boundary redelineation [1]. Harun first won the Bengkoka seat at the 2020 Sabah State Election under a BN ticket, polling 2,538 votes with a 1,337-vote majority over 10 other candidates [2]. During the 16th Sabah State Legislative Assembly, he served as State Assistant Minister of Rural Development from October 2020 to January 2023, and subsequently as State Assistant Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation from January 2023 to December 2025, both under Chief Minister Hajiji Noor's GRS administration [1]. At the 17th Sabah State Election held on 29 November 2025, Harun successfully defended the Bengkoka seat for BN, polling 2,485 votes with a 77-vote majority in an 11-cornered contest [3]. A subsequent election petition challenging the result was struck out by the Election Court on 23 February 2026, with the court finding that the petition failed to comply with mandatory requirements under the Election Petition Rules 1954 [4]. Harun's constituency of Bengkoka is located in the Pitas district, approximately 170 km from Kota Kinabalu, serving a predominantly rural and riverine community reliant on agriculture and fisheries [2].

Known for

Harun Durabi is identified with representing the Bengkoka constituency, a rural and remote seat in the Pitas district of Sabah first contested in the 2020 Sabah State Election. He has held state assistant minister portfolios covering Rural Development and Science, Technology and Innovation across the 16th Sabah State Assembly. His public interventions have focused on rural infrastructure and service access issues, including boat safety for schoolchildren and mobile vaccination coverage for remote communities [5].

Political positions

Harun's recorded public positions reflect the priorities of a rural constituency assemblyman. As State Assistant Minister of Rural Development, he advocated for expanding mobile vaccination programmes to remote areas of Pitas during the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the geographic distance of constituents from vaccination centres [2]. He also raised the issue of inadequate river transport — specifically the absence of larger boats and life jackets for schoolchildren crossing rivers to reach schools in Pitas — and indicated he was working to secure government funding to address the gap [6]. No sourced positions on national-level policy issues were found within the allowlist.

Political career

1. September 2020Harun Durabi contested and won the Bengkoka state seat for the first time under a BN-UMNO ticket at the 2020 Sabah State Election, polling 2,538 votes with a 1,337-vote majority over 10 other candidates.⛓
2. October 2020Appointed State Assistant Minister of Rural Development of Sabah in the GRS state administration under Chief Minister Hajiji Noor and Minister Jahid Jahim.⛓
3. January 2023Appointed State Assistant Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Sabah under Chief Minister Hajiji Noor and Minister Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif, succeeding his earlier Rural Development portfolio.⛓
4. November 2025Named by Sabah BN as an incumbent candidate to defend the Bengkoka seat at the 17th Sabah State Election.⛓
5. 29 November 2025Defended the Bengkoka seat for BN at the 17th Sabah State Election, winning with 2,485 votes and a 77-vote majority in an 11-cornered contest.⛓
6. 23 February 2026Election Court struck out a petition challenging Harun's 2025 Bengkoka victory, finding the petition non-compliant with mandatory Election Petition Rules 1954. Harun's status as Bengkoka MLA was confirmed.⛓

Election history

• 2025BengkokaWon⛓
• 2020BengkokaWon⛓

Perspectives on key issues

• VerifiedFactsHarun Durabi won the Bengkoka seat at both the 2020 and 2025 Sabah State Elections under BN-UMNO. He served as State Assistant Minister of Rural Development (2020–2023) and State Assistant Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation (2023–2025) in the GRS state government. A post-election petition against his 2025 victory was struck out by the Election Court on 23 February 2026.⛓
• GovernmentHarun was retained by Sabah BN as one of a small number of incumbents defending their seats at the 2025 Sabah State Election, alongside other sitting assemblymen, as announced by the Sabah BN candidate list in November 2025.⛓
• PublicHarun's 77-vote majority in the 2025 election — the second-narrowest win in that election — was noted by FMT as one of the closest results, describing it as a 'meagre 77-vote majority'.⛓

Notable legal history

An election petition challenging Harun Durabi's victory at the 2025 Sabah State Election for the Bengkoka seat was struck out by the Election Court on 23 February 2026. According to Sinar Harian, the petition was dismissed after the court upheld preliminary objections filed by the respondents, finding that the petition failed to comply with mandatory requirements under the Election Petition Rules 1954, including Rules 3(1), 3(2), 4(1), 9, and 15; the court ordered costs to be paid to the respondents without proceeding to a full trial (Source: sinarharian.com.my). NST's news summary service also confirmed the dismissal, noting the court found defects in the petition's compliance with the Election Petition Rules (Source: nst.com.my). Harun's status as Bengkoka MLA was confirmed as gazetted following the ruling.