Taib longest serving Chief Minister in Malaysia

When Taib will hand over his power?


While component parties of Barisan Nasional are geared for leadership change in the next two years, the State Barisan Nasional parties are silent of any possible change in their leadership. Change of leadership also means change of ministerial positions in the government.

In UMNO, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has publicly announced that he will hand over the UMNO presidency to Najib Tun Razak, his deputy now in June 2010 and this means that Najib will also take over the reins of government. Abdullah received the “power” in October 2003 when Mahathir Mohamad after 22 years as Premier relinquished it.

Except for MIC, the other parties such as Gerakan and MCA will see also change of leadership in the next few months.

But in Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud became the president of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) on 26 March 1981 and also Chief Minister of Sarawak when Rahman Yakub, his uncle became the governor of the State. The question commonly asked by the people of Sarawak whenever and wherever they meet is: when is Taib Mahmud going to step down? He is aging and not in a healthy condition, after a colon cancer operation.

Earlier on, Taib had identified a number of PBB politicians who were tipped to take over from him. But one after the other, these politicians disappeared into oblivion, the latest being Adenan Satem. Since then, the question of Taib stepping down is very sensitive. I remember in 2003 a reporter from The New Straits Times who was with Mahathir on a farewell visit asked Taib when was his turn to step down.

So furious was Taib that he was seen to have kicked a chair during the Press Conference. The Head of NST bureau in Kuching became the victim and he was told to leave the State. Relationship between the State and NST was at its nadir point.

Nowadays, Taib has been searching for someone who can take over from him and so far he has not found anyone. It is most unfortunate that Taib cannot find anyone whose capability, ability and leadership is near to his despite a number of them are academically qualified. Alfred Jabu, for instance, is a graduate in agriculture and has been in politics since 1974 holding various ministerial posts in the government.

Since no one is capable of taking over from Taib, the next question being asked is: what will become of PBB should anything happen to Taib? Let us discuss the various possibilities.


My Say:

This is a posting I reproduced from HERE. I was at the function when the Kuala Lumpur-based NST journalist asked Taib when he would step down as Sarawak Chief Minister. Taib was taken by surprise that he asked for the question again. Before the journalist could repeat his question, Dr Mahathir repeated the question to Taib.

What Joseph Tawie wrote in his posting are true. I was then the NST News Editor for Sabah and Sarawak cum head of the Kuching NST office. Though there was a `request' for my transfer, NST Kuala Lumpur kept me in Kuching until two years later when I was called up/promoted to Newsdesk Kuala Lumpur as News Editor.