Stephen R. Evans


Stephen Robert Evans SPDK, JP is a politician, public administrator and author from Sabah, Malaysia.
Evans was born in Kampong Bariawa Laut, a small village in Keningau District, North Borneo. His father was Richard F. Evans, District Officer and later Resident of the West Coast for the North Borneo Chartered Company Government, which ruled North Borneo until the 1942 Japanese invasion in World War II.

Education

Evans studied in a Japanese primary school in Keningau during the occupation. After the war he was schooled at Catholic mission schools at Sandakan, at Jesselton and at Kuching, Sarawak. He attended universities in Britain, United States and Australia, gaining B.Sc. and MA degrees in Public Administration and Diplomas in Journalism and Agriculture. In 1966, he was awarded a Columbo Plan Scholarship from the New Zealand Government to study Public Administration and Local Government.

Political Career

Evans had a distinguished career as a politician in Sabah. He served as a Member of Parliament from 8 August 1974 to 1 June 1977, and a Senator from 15 December 1977 to 20 June 1978. He was re-elected as an MP from 15 July 1978 until 29 March 1982. In 1986, he was elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly, serving from 5 May 1986 until 26 June 1990. Evans was awarded a PGDK, Commander of the Order of Kinabalu by the State Government in 1977 and in 1989 he was conferred the State’s highest award, SPDK, Grand Commander of the Order of Kinabalu.
Evans also served as a Justice of the Peace, and was a life member of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Malaysian Parliamentary Association. He authored several books, and twice won the Borneo Literature Bureau’s Literature Competition. He was fluent in English, Malay, Kadazan/Dusun and Murut.

Death

Evans died on 27 September 2017 at the age of 82. Musa Aman, Sabah’s chief minister, called on the family residence to pay his last respects.