[2] Prior to that, Mark contested as an independent and won the federal seat of Kinabalu at the 1978 Malaysian general election, defeating then incumbent Abdul Ghani Gilong of United Sabah National Organization.

[3][4][5] This is after he were removed from the Sabah Deputy Chief Minister role, which he had held since 1985, by PBS leader and Sabah Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan on 21 August 1989 due to accusations that he and a group of PBS members were planning a coup against Joseph.

[4] The seat of Ranau was declared vacant by the Speaker of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly, Hassan Alban Sandukong, on 4 October 1989.

The announcement were made by its secretary general and the by-election operations director for PBS, Joseph Kurup on 7 November 1989.

[12] During the campaigning period, Akar claimed that several top PBS assemblymen and member of parliament will join them, though the only prominent PBS members who joined them through this period are two nominated assemblymen, Saman Haji Ghulam and Amat Awang Matnassir.

The campaigning period is also held at the backdrop of Malaysia's Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) probe into malpractices in Yayasan Sabah, where Joseph's brother Jeffery Kitingan is the chairman.

Mark, after his defeat to Siringan, dismissed the result as a 'temporary setback' as majority gained by PBS is not big and said Akar will be more prepared in the upcoming state election.