Newspapers of Sabah: English & Chinese Dailies Guide
What are the main newspapers in Sabah?
Sabah's main newspapers are the Daily Express (English, which describes itself as the state's largest-circulation daily), the Borneo Post (English, covering Sabah and Sarawak), its Malay-language sister paper Utusan Borneo, and the Chinese-language Overseas Chinese Daily News.
Overview of Sabah's press
Sabah supports a varied newspaper landscape that reflects the state's mixed population and its layered history, from the British North Borneo era through the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and into the present day. The state's titles run across three main language streams: English papers that cover local and national news, Chinese-language dailies that serve the state's Chinese communities, and Malay-language papers.
Several of Sabah's mastheads are older than Malaysia itself. The Overseas Chinese Daily News was already being published in British North Borneo in the late 1950s (Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies, checked 7 October 2026), and the Daily Express put out its first issue on 1 March 1963 (Daily Express, checked 7 October 2026). Together these papers form a long written record of the state. Not every title has survived, though. The New Sabah Times, founded in 1949, faced possible closure at the end of 2020 because of funding difficulties (The Vibes, checked 7 October 2026).
The titles also divide by audience. English papers reach the broad general readership and the business community, the Chinese dailies serve Chinese readers in Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan and other towns, and Malay-language papers such as Utusan Borneo serve readers across Sabah and Sarawak.
Daily Express
The Daily Express was founded by the late Tan Sri Yeh Pao Tzu, and its first issue hit the streets on 1 March 1963. It began as a trilingual paper in English, Malay and Kadazan, and it is published by Sabah Publishing House Sdn Bhd (Daily Express, checked 7 October 2026).
Today the Daily Express carries a full editorial mix: local Sabah news takes pride of place, supported by national coverage, business, sports and entertainment. The paper describes itself as by far the largest-circulation daily newspaper in Sabah, and its website, launched in 1997, is dailyexpress.com.my (Daily Express, checked 7 October 2026).
The Daily Express started publishing on 1 March 1963, a few months before Sabah joined Malaysia, so its archive runs alongside the state's modern history almost from the start.
For visitors and researchers, the Daily Express is usually the first stop for English-language coverage of events inside Sabah.
Borneo Post and Utusan Borneo
The Borneo Post is an English-language daily with a clear East Malaysia focus, covering both Sabah and Sarawak. Its first issue came out on 24 April 1978 in Sibu, Sarawak, and it expanded to Miri and Sabah in 1986. It belongs to the See Hua Group, which also publishes the Chinese-language See Hua Daily News. In Sabah the paper is printed in Kota Kinabalu and Lahad Datu, and its website is theborneopost.com (The Borneo Post, checked 7 October 2026).
Utusan Borneo is the group's Malay-language daily. It grew out of a Bahasa Malaysia section that the Borneo Post added in 1986, which was later expanded into a full newspaper distributed throughout Sarawak and Sabah (The Borneo Post, checked 7 October 2026).
Between them, the group's titles reach readers in English, Malay and Chinese across both Borneo states.
Chinese-language newspapers
Sabah has a long-established Chinese-language press. The best-known title is the Overseas Chinese Daily News (OCDN), the sister paper of the Daily Express (Daily Express, checked 7 October 2026). Yeh Pao Tzu was already producing it in British North Borneo around 1959 and 1960 (Malaysian Journal of Chinese Studies, checked 7 October 2026), so it has documented Sabah's Chinese community since before Malaysia was formed.
Sandakan, on the east coast, has also had its own Chinese-language press, such as the Sandakan Merdeka Daily News, focused on city and division news, business and community announcements. SabahGuide has not been able to confirm the current status of local titles, so check before relying on any one paper.
For Sabah's Chinese readers, the language and the community focus of these papers keep them relevant in a way that English papers cannot replicate.
Indigenous-language representation
Kadazan-language content has appeared in Sabah's newspapers for decades. The Daily Express itself started out with Kadazan pages alongside English and Malay (Daily Express, checked 7 October 2026), and the Borneo Post and the now-defunct Borneo Mail also had Kadazan pages at one time. In 2020 the Daily Express ended its Kadazan insert, and The Star reported that the New Sabah Times was then the only newspaper still carrying a Kadazan page (The Star, checked 7 October 2026).
This matters beyond the newsroom. Print coverage in an indigenous language helps keep the language visible in everyday public life, supports literacy in that language, and signals that the community's affairs are worth reporting in their own words. Researchers at Universiti Malaya have noted that Sabah's trilingual papers stopped or cut back their Kadazandusun sections because of financial pressure (Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia, checked 7 October 2026).
Taken as a whole, Sabah's press in English, Chinese and Malay mirrors the diversity of the state, and the shrinking space for Kadazan-language print is part of that story.