In this biography
Quick facts
- Born
- 1 August 1983
- Birthplace
- Kampung Penampang Proper, Penampang, Sabah
- Country
- Malaysia
- Nationality
- Malaysian
- Known for
- Leading UPKO from Pakatan Harapan into GRS and serving in federal and Sabah cabinets
- Full name
- Ewon Benedick
- Party office
- UPKO President, since 2023
- Parliamentary seat
- Penampang, since 2022
- State seat
- Kadamaian, since 2018
- State office
- Sabah Deputy Chief Minister III, since December 2025
Why this life matters
Ewon’s rapid rise shows how a younger Sabah leader used elected office, UPKO and the state’s 40 per cent revenue claim to reposition a regional party between federal and local coalitions.
Timeline
Key moments
Born in Penampang
Born in Kampung Penampang Proper and later studied software development in Melaka.
Built a career in UPKO youth
Led the party’s youth wing and developed an organisational base in Kota Belud and Kadamaian.
Won Kadamaian and joined the state cabinet
Entered the assembly and became rural development minister in Shafie Apdal’s government.
Won Penampang and entered the federal cabinet
Defeated the Warisan incumbent and became entrepreneur development and cooperatives minister.
Became UPKO president
Succeeded Wilfred Madius Tangau as leader of the Sabah-based party.
Resigned from the federal cabinet and left PH
Stepped down over Sabah’s 40 per cent revenue entitlement and led UPKO out of Pakatan Harapan.
Became deputy chief minister
Retained Kadamaian and joined Hajiji Noor’s new cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister III.
Brought UPKO into GRS
UPKO became a GRS component and Ewon retained the party presidency for the 2026–2029 term.
From Penampang to UPKO youth leadership
Ewon Benedick was born in Kampung Penampang Proper in 1983. He attended St Michael Secondary School, completed matriculation in Kota Kinabalu and earned a computer-science degree in software development from Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
He joined UPKO’s youth organisation and led it from 2006 to 2018, while also building party experience in the Kota Belud division. That long organisational apprenticeship preceded his first election and gave him a network in the Kadazandusun-Murut communities central to UPKO’s history.
Kadamaian and the Warisan-era state cabinet
Ewon won Kadamaian at the 2018 election and became rural development minister after UPKO moved away from Barisan Nasional and supported Shafie Apdal’s Warisan-led government. Rural infrastructure, village administration and district development gave him an executive portfolio early in his elected career.
When that government fell in 2020, UPKO performed poorly across Sabah, but Ewon retained Kadamaian. His survival as the party’s sole elected state representative strengthened his internal position and made the constituency the foundation of UPKO’s rebuilding effort.
Penampang MP, federal minister and party president
In GE15, Ewon contested Penampang under the Pakatan Harapan banner and defeated Warisan incumbent Darell Leiking with a 14,410-vote majority. Anwar Ibrahim appointed him minister of entrepreneur development and cooperatives in December 2022.
Ewon became UPKO president in January 2023. His federal portfolio covered cooperative institutions, small firms and entrepreneurship, while his party role required him to define how a Sabah regional organisation would operate inside a national coalition dominated by larger partners.
The 40 per cent issue and departure from PH
Ewon announced his resignation from the federal cabinet in November 2025, citing principle over the handling of Sabah’s constitutional entitlement to 40 per cent of net federal revenue derived from the state. UPKO left Pakatan Harapan two days later before the Sabah election.
The decision drew both support and criticism. Its institutional importance is clearer than competing claims about motive: Ewon gave up a federal ministry, ended UPKO’s four-year PH membership and made the revenue issue central to the party’s new state-first positioning.
Deputy chief minister and UPKO’s move into GRS
UPKO won three seats in the 2025 state election, and Ewon retained Kadamaian with a 9,672-vote majority. He entered Hajiji Noor’s cabinet as Deputy Chief Minister III and minister of industrial development, entrepreneurship and transport while continuing as MP for Penampang.
In 2026 UPKO joined Gabungan Rakyat Sabah, and Ewon was returned unopposed as party president for 2026–2029. His biography therefore captures an unusually fast realignment: from PH federal minister to leader of a GRS component, with state industrial policy and Sabah–federal bargaining now joined in the same office.
Quick answers
Frequently asked questions about Ewon Benedick
- Who is Ewon Benedick?
- Ewon Benedick is a deputy Chief Minister of Sabah and President of UPKO. Ewon’s rapid rise shows how a younger Sabah leader used elected office, UPKO and the state’s 40 per cent revenue claim to reposition a regional party between federal and local coalitions.
- What is Ewon Benedick best known for?
- Ewon Benedick is best known for leading UPKO from Pakatan Harapan into GRS and serving in federal and Sabah cabinets.
- When and where was Ewon Benedick born?
- Ewon Benedick was born on 1 August 1983 in Kampung Penampang Proper, Penampang, Sabah.
Sources and further reading
Explore the evidence
These references support the biography and offer further reading. Official records, first-person accounts and independent reporting provide different perspectives; image records document attribution and licensing.
- 1. Parliament of MalaysiaMember profile: Penampang
- 2. United Progressive Kinabalu OrganisationUPKO Supreme Council, 2026–2029
- 3. Office of the Chief Minister of SabahUPKO entry into GRS and Ewon Benedick’s state role
- 4. Government of SabahMinister’s office: Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship and Transport
- 5. BERNAMAEwon and Donald continue to lead UPKO
- 6. Wikimedia CommonsEwon Benedick portrait and CC BY 4.0 record
