Ewon Benedick

Ewon Benedick (born 1 August 1983) is a Malaysian politician who has served as Deputy Chief Minister III of Sabah and State Minister of Industrial Development, Entrepreneurship, and Transport of Sabah since December 2025, as well as Member of Parliament (MP) for Penampang since 2022 and Member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Kadamaian since 2018. A president of the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation (UPKO) since 2023, Ewon served as the Chairman of Pakatan Harapan of Sabah from 2024 until 2025.

He served as Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim from 2022 until his resignation in 2025, and was the State Minister of Rural Development of Sabah under Chief Minister Shafie Apdal from 2018 to 2020.

Political career Ewon Benedick made his electoral debut in the 2018 Sabah state election and contested in the state constituency of Kadamaian and managed to regain the seat which had been won by Parti Keadilan Rakyat in the 2013 general election.

Following the United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation's (UPKO) decision to quit Barisan Nasional in the aftermath of 2018 general election and align with WARISAN and Pakatan Harapan (PH), Ewon was appointed the State Minister of Rural Development of Sabah. Following the collapse of the WARISAN-led government in 2020, a snap election was held, where he defended his seat despite a poor showing by UPKO; he became the party's sole state legislative assemblyman.

In the 2022 general election, Ewon contested against incumbent Darell Leiking in the federal parliamentary seat of Penampang and overturned a 23,473 majority. He was subsequently appointed Minister of Entrepreneur and Cooperatives Development in the Anwar Ibrahim cabinet.

On 14 January 2023, Ewon took over the presidency of United Progressive Kinabalu Organisation.

On 8 November 2025, Ewon announced his resignation from the cabinet over what he described as the Attorney General's Chambers "disregard' for Sabah's entitlement to 40% of federal revenue collected from the state under the constitution. This followed a court ruling which had affirmed that the federal government had been acting unlawfully for the previous 50 years by failing to pay the state the necessary amount. It was later reveal by Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil that Ewon was still on leave for the Sabah election campaign and his swearing-in as Deputy Chief Minister III supersede his official date of resignation, thus his federal cabinet position eventually ended.

Political analysts have described Ewon's resignation as a calculated move ahead of the 2025 Sabah state election meant to reaffirm UPKO's image as a party serving Sabahan interests.

Election results

Honours Honours of Malaysia

Justice of the Peace (JP) (2024)