What happened to the Malaysia Airlines east Malaysia connectivity?

I was recently on holiday in east Malaysia (starting in Kota Kinabalu) and was looking to hop over to Sandakan and Kuching. I was surprised there were no Malaysia Airlines connections for those routes. What happened? I thought MAS was the national carrier.

I travelled to Borneo many years ago, and I remember MAS had strong presence. Now, it feels like MAS is completely gone from intra-Borneo routes. Only the AirAsia.

Did they pull out entirely? Is MAS still considered Malaysia’s national carrier? To me, it seems strange that MAS doesn’t even connect the Sabah and Sarawak capital cities anymore. Wondering if anyone knows what the story is here? I would have thought the local politicians would have kicked up a stink over this.