Designing a Smart Ageing Blueprint for Sabah: integrating policy, community ecosystems, and regional realities

Malaysia is entering a rapidly ageing phase, with Sabah projected to experience deeper challenges due to its geographical diversity, socioeconomic disparities, and fragmented service ecosystems. Despite national policy attention, ageing governance in Sabah remains constrained by limited carer support, uneven infrastructure, and weak rural–urban integration. This study proposes a Smart Ageing Blueprint for Sabah, integrating empirical evidence, policy analyses, and cross-sector literature to outline a comprehensive framework for long-term ageing readiness. Using qualitative document analysis, this paper synthesises more than 40 national, regional, and Sabah-based studies to identify key ageing determinants, infrastructural gaps, health disparities, carer stressors, mobility issues, and socio-cultural barriers. The findings highlight five critical domains: health system readiness, long-term care structures, age-friendly environments and mobility, community ecosystems, and governance/digital integration. A state-driven, community-supported Smart Ageing Blueprint is proposed, anchored in the WHO Active Ageing Framework, the National Policy for Older Persons, the Plan of Action for Older Persons, relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and regional best practices such as Japan’s Tokamachi community model. The Blueprint emphasises an ecosystem approach involving government, NGOs, media, carers, elders, industry, and local communities. The study concludes with actionable policy recommendations tailored to Sabah’s realities, arguing that a coordinated, locally grounded ageing strategy is essential to transform demographic challenges into opportunities for social stability, economic growth, and inclusive development in East Malaysia.

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