Karim Bujang

Datuk Karim bin Bujang was a Malaysian politician from Sabah who represented the Bongawan seat in the Sabah State Legislative Assembly for five consecutive terms from 1990 to 2013. Born on 3 June 1953 in Kimanis in the Papar District of Sabah, he entered state politics among the young United Sabah National Organisation (USNO) leaders brought forward by Tun Mustapha Harun in 1990. When USNO dissolved into a Sabah wing of UMNO, he became an UMNO and Barisan Nasional figure, serving as Sabah BN secretary and later as an assistant minister in finance and in tourism, culture and environment portfolios.

Colleagues remembered a diligent organiser. Former chief minister Datuk Seri Yong Teck Lee, who worked with him in the late 1990s when Yong chaired BN Sabah, said Karim efficiently ran programmes that strengthened Sabahans' self-confidence in the Sabah Boleh campaign. Yong also recalled learning about the bird's nest industry from Karim, who was an active businessman in that field. A full state minister's post famously slipped away once when he was already seated at Istana Negeri ready to be sworn in, only to make way for another leader; he told reporters simply that it was not meant to be.

Barisan Nasional dropped him as the Bongawan candidate in the 2013 general election, replacing him with Datuk Mohamad Alamin. Karim later joined Parti Warisan and contested the Kimanis parliamentary seat in the 2018 general election, losing by only 156 votes to then foreign minister Datuk Seri Anifah Aman. An election court nullified that result and a January 2020 by-election followed; Karim again fell short, losing to Barisan's Alamin. In March 2024 he left Warisan for Parti Gagasan Rakyat Sabah (Gagasan), submitting his membership form to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor.

Karim died suddenly around noon on Sunday, 20 September 2026, at his residence in Kampung Sipanggil, Putatan, Sabah. He was 73. Family and friends confirmed the death; no official cause was immediately announced, though it was believed to be health-related. His body was taken to hospital for examination and he was laid to rest the same evening in his Kimanis home village. Tributes came quickly from across Sabah politics, including from Yong Teck Lee and former state minister Datuk Aidi Moktar.

Across three decades he moved through Sabah's shifting coalitions without leaving the state's political conversation. From Mustapha's USNO generation through BN's organising years and later Warisan and Gagasan contests, Karim remained a familiar face in Kimanis and Bongawan politics. His sudden death on a Sunday afternoon closed a long chapter in Sabah's assembly history and drew condolences from rivals and allies alike.