PBRS was formed by its founding president, Joseph Kurup who had led some disaffected members of the United Sabah Party (PBS) on 11 March 1994.

On 10 June 1994, it was officially accepted as one of the component parties in the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

[3][4][5] PBRS applied to join the new ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition so as to ensure its promises can be fulfilled.

[6][7][8] In the wake of the collapse of the PH federal government in the 2020 Malaysian political crisis, PBRS had attended again after a 2-year lapse the BN coalition's Supreme Council meeting along with other component parties of Peninsular Malaysia; UMNO, MCA and MIC on 12 May 2020, which had decided to declare their support for the new prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin and his new Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance federal government.

[9] PBRS deputy president who is the party's sole MP, Arthur Joseph Kurup was also appointed as the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Economic Affairs in the BN supported and aligned Muhyiddin's PN new ruling administration since March 2020.