[6] Part of the enticement offered by BN to the defectors was the promise of a rotating Chief Ministers of Sabah post, which Dompok held from 1998 to 1999.

[5] It was redefined as an ethnically-based party striving to voice the rights and advance the development of KDM populations of Sabah and the Orang Asli of Peninsular Malaysia.

In 2009, UPKO opened four divisions in Perak, seeking a foothold among local Orang Asli indigenous people.

In 2013, the party's president Bernard Dompok distanced himself from Prime Minister Najib Razak on the contentious question of the use by Malaysian Christians of the word "Allah" to describe God.

In the same year one of the party's federal parliamentarians, Wilfred Bumburing, quit UPKO and joined the opposition PKR in protest at what he considered to be government inaction on illegal immigration.

[13] UPKO was an advocate for the repeal of the Internal Security Act, which for over 50 years permitted detention without charge in certain circumstances.

[2][3][17] There is also a slight change in UPKO's logo with the inclusion of a new colour, red while the Mount Kinabalu image remains.