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Most of us Peninsular folks are oblivious to Sarawak, and East Malaysian politics. In fact, the not-so-amiable truth is most of us in the west side of the woods don’t give much concern about the state of affairs in the Eastern half of the country. But to be fair, the same attitude is apparent among Sarawakians and Sabahans towards us Peninsular Malaysians. On that note, I think this is the issue that should have been the main raison d’être to Najib’s 1Malaysia and why Najib was in Sarawak recently.
When it comes to this incohesive attitudes between the Peninsular dwellers and our Bornean counterparts towards each other I, too, am guilty as charged. Fortunately, I have more than a few Sarawakian friends who were more than happy to divulge their personal thoughts and overview on the political scenario in their home state, and from what they tell me, it’s a whole different ballgame out there.
Overview
The first thing every Sarawakian would tell you is that ‘white-haired uncle’ or Pehin Seri Abdul Taib Mahmud-led PBB (Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu) is and has been the dominant party in the state with almost non-existent contest for the last 28 years. To give a better idea to how strong PBB is in Sarawak, the last election is considered to be the worst result in the history of the party under Taib where the party merely won 90% of seats.
Similar to the peninsular, the political parties in Sarawak are ethnic-based. Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) which is the second largest BN component party in the state after PBB is a Chinese party. Contests from oppositions and independents are almost non-existent in the BN/PBB dominated state.
The parliamentary and state elections in Sarawak are staggered, and are not held at the same time, as is the standard practice elsewhere nowadays. General elections are held every two years or so. In between elections, the campaigning is done virtually non-stop and is an exhausting as well as expensive affair (more than a few candidates were declared bankrupt over their electoral stunts). With rare exceptions, it is the playground for those who are very wealthy and very powerful.
Dominance of PBB Under Pak Uban
PBB has strongholds only in the rural areas while urbanites in Kuching tend to vote for the opposition. Members of the party are solely of Sarawak Bumiputera ethnicity. It was formed from the combination of three parties, namely Parti Negara Sarawak (PANAS), Barisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak (BARJASA) and Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak (PESAKA). They merged to form the PBB in 1973. The merger is based on the effort to improve the lifestyle and protect the rights of Bumiputeras in fields of politics, economy and social.
After the death of its first president Jugah Anak Barieng (aka Tun Jugah) who was Sarawak’s Internal Affairs Minister in 1981, Taib Mahmud took over after he winning the post unopposed. He is the current Chief Minister of Sarawak and president of the PBB. The existence of this party as one of the major component parties has strengthened the position of the Bumiputeras in Sarawak.
Taib is the Chief Minister of Sarawak since 1981, he is the longest serving Chief Minister in Malaysia and the second longest serving parliamentarian in Malaysia after Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah.
Alleged Corruption
Accusations of deep corruption and nepotism have surrounded Taib on several occasions and the dominance of Sarawak's political elite including Taib's family in the logging industry is well documented.
The excessive logging in the state has gained international attention and criticism since 1987 where various foreign governments and international organisations protested against the dramatic rise in timber production from Sarawak. In 2007, The Japan Times reported that nine Japanese shipping companies, which transported timber from Sarawak, had allegedly failed to report some 1.1 billion yen in income over a period of up to seven years. The report claimed the money was paid as kickbacks to Sarawak officials via a Hong Kong agent linked to Taib's family. Taib, however, denied totally the Japan Times allegations by presenting a 10-page clarification in the state assembly. He said that he had no knowledge about the bribes given to Sarawak officials and the evading of the income from timber production.
In 2009, the 2008 annual auditor-general's report labelled the forest management in Sarawak by state government as unsatisfactory. However, Sarawak's Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management, Awang Tengah Ali Hassan questioned the validity of the report as he claimed that the auditor-general's department did not have the expertise in forest management.
The results of the logging industry under Taib is that less than 10% of Sarawak's primary forests remain, logging many of the ancestral lands of many of Sarawak's indigenous communities, despite their continued petitions and road blockades, where forceful dismantling has led to several deaths and regular violent coercion by the Malaysian army, police and logging industry enforcers.
As far as nepotism is concerned, Taib's family members are the some of the richest businesspersons in the state. His son, Dato’ Seri Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib is currently the Deputy Group Chairman of Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad (CMSB). Taib’s other children, Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman, Jamilah Hamidah, Hanifah Hajar and their late mother Laila Taib are substantial shareholders in the company.
Sulaiman also entered politics where he won the Kota Samarahan seat in the Malaysian parliament previously held by his father in the 2008 general election and became Deputy Tourism Minister in the new cabinet though resigned about a year later. He did not have any political experience.
With regards to economic domination, Taib’s family’s Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad was awarded various governmental contracts including the maintenance of Sarawak's roads over 15 years, constructions of roads, supplying roofing materials for low-cost housing units, building hospitals and upgrading airports. It also has a near monopoly of the supplies of concrete in Sarawak.
In 2008, the Sarawak government planned to build 12 dams in Sarawak in order to meet the future energy demand of industrialisation. The controversial hydroelectric project is receiving fierce criticism because of catastrophic disasters that they may cause and the possible displacements of native communities. The opponents of the plans cited this project as corruption and capital cronyism because CMSB is expected to be benefited indirectly by supplying concrete material for the construction of dams and building of aluminium smelter that consume much of the generated electricity.
Below is a depiction of how rich Taib has become in the words of Sarawak State Assemblyman of DAP for Bukit Assek:
“Taib has become filthy rich. He travels in his Rolls Royce car. He has a fleet of luxury cars. The rings on his fingers are the envy of many. His family members are supremely wealthy. His families’ businesses are doing extremely well in Sarawak. Many contracts were awarded to them without public tenders.”
So Rich Yet So Behind
What’s most apparent and discomforting about the state of affairs in the Land of the Hornbills is that the state is so rich in natural resources yet it is the fourth poorest state in the country.
Of recent, Taib have been boasting about the state being wealthier than ever before but it’s no success story when the people is struggling at the bottom rung of the poverty line while it allows the federal government to treat them as a colony as it extracts precious resources from under their feet.
Taib was a federal minister when Sarawak signed an Agreement with the federal Government under which Sarawak has been given a petite 5% oil royalty since 1974. Ministers George Chan and Wong Soon Koh of SUPP, said that they had tried to negotiate for more than it deserves, but was unsuccessful.
Many claim that revenue from the Sarawak are channelled to PBB and UMNO while the big share goes to the state’s top brass. Whatever it is, Taib’s home-brewed “politics of development” ruthlessly leaves the indigenous people with a dilemma: Vote for the dominant PBB in return for their much needed development or opt for the little guys (opposition and independents) at the risk of being denied development projects.
The Next in Line
From the look of things, Taib must be a little anxious at the moment as the 75-year old chief minister’s succession plan has not borne fruit. He had previously primed three successors - Wahab Dollah, Effendi Norwawi and Adenan Satem whom, one by one, had lost favour. Wahab is no longer in the state cabinet, Effendi is completely out of the State Assembly while Adenan had a stint as a federal Minister during Pak Lah’s regime though lost favour at the federal level and is now a mere backbencher in the state Assembly.
To many Sarawakian’s, whether they like it or not, Taib’s son Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman is most likely to succeed as the next chief minister. So far critics have not had a great deal to say about Sulaiman except for the fact that he had risen fast in the federal cabinet where he made it up to Deputy Minister of Tourism, but his exit from the post was even faster (he quit his deputy minister post in Dec 2009). It is not clear on the reason for his resignation. Some say it’s due to personal reason while others say it’s his for health reasons but many suspect his exit from Putrajaya is to pave way to Sarawak to succeed his father who remains at the apex of political food chain in Sarawak. Related News
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