Recently it was Beginda Minda, publicity chief of Baleh branch of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) who asked Taib to resign. For those remarks Beginda was forced to resign from the party. Now the MP for Bandar Kuching, Chong Chieng Jen has joined the chorus.
In an interview with Malaysiakini, Chong not only asked Taib to resign, but also accused Taib’s family of accumulating “astronomical wealth” through State contracts such as RM300 million for the construction of the new State Assembly building. Many road and building projects have been awarded to CMS and Naim Cendera, both companies are owned by Taib’s family members and relatives.
Many more contracts are waiting for these companies in the proposed SCORE (Sarawak Corridor of Renewal Energy) that is expected to draw in more than RM100 billion of investments and the construction of 12 dams in the State.
Literally thousands of Sarawakians – whether they are Malays, Chinese or Dayaks – have expressed dissatisfaction with Taib’s administration, and have wished him to resign, but not many dare to express it publicly. Listen to them at offices, coffee shops, villages and longhouses and you hear them talking bad about Taib’s 27 years as chief minister and his family being awarded government contracts, etc. and etc.
Among the Dayaks, their common talks centre on thousands of acres of their Native Customary Rights (NCR) lands being taken away and are sold to big “towkays” who are mostly supporters and financiers of Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) for huge oil palm plantations.
Taib knows about the people’s resentment against his administration. In fact he knew it a long time ago so in December 1995 he announced he would retire by 2000 in order to pacify the people. (See the attached news cutting below: Sarawak Tribune, 7 Dec 1995).
Now it is eight years over due. And the people who were supposed to take over from him have disappeared into political oblivion. Such great names include Bujang Ulis, Dr. Sulaiman Daud, Abang Yusuf Puteh, Abang Abu Bakar and Adenan Satem.
The question the people of Sarawak are often asking is: Why does Taib continue to rule Sarawak despite of his age, health problems and the huge amount of wealth his family has accumulated?
One reason is perhaps he could not find a suitable and trusted leader to take over from him; someone whom he can trust to “look” after his (Taib’s) family’s businesses when he steps down. “Mau tidak mau” (whether he likes it or not or whether we like it or not), he has to wait for his own son, now a deputy minister of Tourism to take over from him as chief minister. That may take two more years or even longer as his son has just entered politics.
It appears that Taib wants to ensure that his family’s businesses will not be “disturbed” as he has seen how the Indonesian government seized properties belonging to Suharto’s family or the Philippines Government wanted the Marcos family to return to the people the ill-gotten properties.
And more frightening for Taib is that the Sarawakians may elect Pakatan Rakyat (People’s Alliance) to power in the coming State election or subsequent elections; worst still for him, if Anwar Ibrahim is to be the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
9 comments:
There should be a rallying call like that used by Maldivians to get rid of dictator Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who raped the Maldives for 30 years in the name of "politics of development" (read family rule). He was defeated by a ragtag boy he has tormented for almost decades and who spend in jail for 6 years in last month's watershed election in the Maldives. Gayoom, 71, was defeated by Mohamed Nasheed, 41, who started the struggle at the age of 22 and suffered immensely bcoz of that. Finally, the people said enough is enough: and overthrew dictator Gayoom who made his family the wealthiest family in the Maldives so much so that they will use exported mineral water for shower while his people died of the absence of clean water. Note that 70% of Sarawakians don't have clean water (tap water), yet Taib has been raping Sarawak for 30 years in the name of development. Let's compare that with other nations and see what they have accomplished in those 30 years and you will realise that Silverhair has utterly failed.
We remember Taib is a ruthless dictator who will use anything under the sun to sustain his empire. To remove him, there should be sacrifices for in every noble cause, few heads must roll. Early this month, he claimed that he was "the government in Sarawak". Can you imagine that? Now that he has become a demagogue, a cancer, there should be concerted effort to uproot him and his pussyfooters including all Dayak ADUNs/MPs. And since he said Sarawak was him and he was Sarawak just like dictator Gayoom claimed that he was The Maldives while The Maldives was him, we shall use their rallying call: The other Maldives. So, we need The other Sarawak, a Sarawak that's not a person's property but the motherland of its citizens and we will get it if we fight. Remember, Obama said Power doesn't concede"; so never imagine that Taib and his gang will let power easily. We need to be ruthless with the and fight till the end. May God bless our efforts.
Here, read how Maldivians got rid of dictator Gayoom: another personification of evil like Taib.
http://www.minivannews.com/comments_analysis_detail.php?id=5470
Taib is only buying time when he says that he have line up some successors to succeed him.Till now he have no intention to resign.The more he stay the more resentment are building up.
At first we thought that Adenan Satem is the likely successor but that is not likely now after he fell out of favour.
Now he is grooming his son Sulaiman to take over from him.This is a open secret now and he want to create a dynasty.
The only way to put an end to this dynasty is to elect PR to be our next gov't.
So either we do or die,lets walk the talk.Change is what we all MUST bring to Sarawak.
PR fits our state needs.
Gabriel Adit is one who have shown us the way and he walks the talk by joining PR.
Between Taib and his uncle they have really sucked up most of the wealth of Sarawak. However it is said that the former uses a vacuum cleaner so not even a speck of dust is left for scavengers while his uncle used a broom. Hmm.
It time for all Sarawakians to BRING HIM DOWN !
ITS LONG LONG OVER DUE!
Take the skeletons out of the cupboard. In case you need to know, we have run an article on April 3 this year about 'Taib lies exposed" in our blog. It's our (Four Horsemen's) comical way of highlighting the lies but the message is still there... about Taib Mahmud not honouring his words. Here's the link
http://knightadventure.blogspot.com/2008/04/taib-who-part-ix.html
Mind you, not only he didn't retire in five years after the interview, he also put his son into politics, contrary to what he said earlier.
Dig that!
::: OO7 :::
Source: http://www-cgi.cnn.com/ASIANOW/asiaweek/95/1208/nat2.html
Three to Get Ready
Chief Minister Taib Is Also Grooming a Successor
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PRIME MINISTER MAHATHIR MOHAMAD is not the only one planning for retirement. Last week, the leader of the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, told Asiaweek that he too was preparing to step down in the near future.
Taib said he was only staying on in order to ensure a stable transition: "I need to know the handover is going to be smooth and that it would not split the party."
The two leaders share other similarities. Mahathir became PM in 1981, the same year Taib became CM.
And just as Mahathir has chosen a successor, so Taib has groomed three men from which his United Sarawak Bumiputra Party (PBB) will choose its next leader.
The PBB dominates the four-party state coalition much as UMNO dominates the national coalition.
But while Sarawak's parties are part of the national coalition, UMNO is not in Sarawak.
Taib did not name his three potential successors, but Kuching's coffeeshops are full of gossip about who they are and which has the best chance.
The trio: Sarawak industrial development minister Johari Openg, social development minister Adenan Satem, and former economic development corporation head Effendi Norwawi, who is still an assemblyman but now devotes much of his time to business.
Nice-guy Adenan is regarded as an also-ran. The race is really between Johari and Effendi.
While Effendi is touted as an economic expert who helped power the state's enviably high growth rates, at a personal level he scores lower than Taib loyalist Johari.
Says a top bureaucrat close to Taib: "Effendi is highly intelligent and dynamic, but his grassroots support is weak.
He's not as well liked by ordinary people and party members as Johari, who has also performed well."
Johari and Adenan are both Malays, while Effendi is a Melanau, the mostly Muslim group from Sarawak's northern coastal region.
The Melanau make up just 5.8% of the state's 1.8-million population, but they hold many high posts.
Taib is Melanau, though he denies favoring this group: "When I groom people, I groom them on their talents and their ability."
What is Taib's successor likely to inherit? Like Malaysia as a whole, Sarawak has a booming economy: growth this year will be 11%.
Yet, as Taib told Asiaweek, Sarawak is not easy to govern. It is as big as peninsular Malaysia, but with only one-tenth as many people - and they are widely spread out and belong to more than 26 different racial groups.
Oil and timber dominate the economy, with each contributing about a third to the state's annual income of about $820 million.
Oil brings in more money, but most of that goes to the federal government, with Sarawak getting just 5%; the state keeps all timber revenue.
Taib's policies of modernizing agriculture, diversifying the economy and pushing for more industrialization will continue to be priorities under a new leader.
Race relations are good, although the indigenous people of the interior continue to complain of neglect while the coastal strip and urban areas prosper.
All of the immensely wealthy timber tycoons are Chinese. Yet it's undeniable that there is relative harmony and contentment with Taib's performance - even if people, including members of his own party, privately wince at his lavish lifestyle and the cronyism that has allowed his family to become hugely wealthy.
As well as contentment and pride, there is an air of bustle and can-doism about Sarawak.
Says a K.L.-based diplomat: "In Sarawak, the civil servants are able; elsewhere in Malaysia, they are willing." That will be Taib's legacy to whoever succeeds him.
Taib who
When will Taib go?
http://knightadventure.blogspot.com/2008/04/taib-who-part-ix.html
By Christhoper K. Knight
‘The Four Horsemen’ meet up in the cyber space once again tonight.
They received telegraph requiring their attendance at “The Breakfast Show with the Four Horsemen” tonight.
Top on the agenda: When will Taib retire from active politics?
Nevermind the awkward pairing of ‘tonight’ and ‘breakfast’, it’s always breakfast for the horsemen in the Internet world, anyway.
What happened to the breakfast under the long shadow of PJ Hilton? Those familiar with the Horsemen may be curious to know.
To put it simply, they try out a greener, or rather, brighter pasture for a change.
So here they are tonight in a digital hall in blogspot.com. Like usual, Devil is late. Haji Julaihi Haji Suut, reluctantly coming out of YouTube, says the devil is still ‘preoccupied’ with some newly added buddies in friendster . Knight resigns from his reading at pagebypagebooks.com . James anak Bond arrives from a Bond Girl's residence in New Zealand.
Tonight they want to interview Taib Mahmud, the Chief Minister of Sarawak.
Knight is landed the role to shoot questions but where is Taib, or who would play act Taib? Devil says he can be stand-in for Taib but Pakcik Julaihi wants someone who can talk like gentle-old-man Taib Mahmud, not a maverick Satan.
All eyes turned to James anak Bond. Bond, being pro-BN at Federal level but opposition at State level, is protesting but the show must go on.
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ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): You are planning to retire soon.
TAIB (BOND): Yes, within five years. I'm only staying to make sure that things will be stable and can continue as successfully as possible. It would be irresponsible, against my personal ethics, and disappoint people around me, if the handover is not smooth, if it would split the party. It is better for me to stay one or two years longer to get things smoothed out.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): You have mentioned some people who could take over.
TAIB (BOND): I have groomed three people (state ministers Johari Openg and Adenan Satem, and former head of the State Economic Development Corporation Effendi Norwawi). Not based on race, but based on their talents and their ability to lead and unite people. There are others who have been here long and don't need to be groomed. But the ones groomed can do the job better than the others.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): What will be your campaign focus during next State election?
TAIB (BOND): The main thrust will be to push ahead with greater efforts for our transition to an industrial society. Sarawak is not an easy state to develop. It's huge, but has a very small and widely scattered population. Now, after 30 years, we are beginning to take off quite nicely.
Pakcik Julaihi gestures to Knight, urging him to ask something)
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): Isn't it unhealthy that there will be no real alternative to your National Front coalition (BN)?
TAIB (BOND): This is a very facile outlook imposed on us from outside. Alternatives will come, I am sure. But alternatives are the result of having movements that have got credible forms of leadership and programs. If only the NF has so far been able to provide a credible, effective, practical political movement that can transform the country in a healthy manner, it's not our fault.
Pakcik Julaihi still gesturing)
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): Why are you against UMNO party coming into Sarawak?
TAIB (BOND): It's just not the time yet. Compared to peninsular Malaysia, our demographic features are different and our politics evolved in a different way. We have been very successful in getting all the races to come together. This is something that ought not to be disturbed.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): Your critics say you are intolerant of dissent.
TAIB (BOND): Of course I'm not. But I frown on one thing: double-talk. If my people agree in the cabinet and then say a different thing outside, or vice versa, that I don't like. To me, that's plain dishonesty. Leaders must submit to discipline because that's the condition under which we agree to come together. Actually, I'm one of the most tolerant politicians around. I don't screw people.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): Yet people who have crossed you are cut off.
DEVIL: Cut! Cut! Hey, is this in the script?
KNIGHT: We’re still on track here, Devil. Read here. Here’s my question. This will be Taib’s answer.
DEVIL: You should follow the order of this script. Last question is last question, okay. You don’t shoot questions at will. You confused me. Also, don’t change any word in the script. Read it word for word.
KNIGHT: Okay, Devil, no more shooting at will. Where was I?
BOND: You were asking me why I massacred Abang Abu and gang in 1998.
Laughter, except Devil is furious)
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): Yet people who have crossed you are cut off.
TAIB (BOND): Of course I cut them off. Which party or politician will embrace people who want to destroy them? But I never used a big stick. My uncle was a bigger dictator than anyone I know of. You can't get a state to come together under force. That's why it didn't happen during my uncle's time - because he believed in the big stick. I don't.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): How do you react to charges of nepotism?
TAIB (BOND): I have never used my power to enrich my family. My family happens to have good people and the country is doing very well. You know, because I did not want to be accused of building a dynasty, I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics. So, in a way, they were driven to the business world, and they are doing quite well. But not through favouritism. I never get involved in looking at contracts. You can ask my financial secretary. Here we are very strict.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): People criticize your opulent lifestyle.
TAIB (BOND): My opulent lifestyle? I enjoy life. If I were not a minister I would still have the same lifestyle. This philosophy that every time a new minister comes in he redecorates his offices - to me, it's a waste of money. This office will last at least 30 to 40 years. I prefer to do that, and the same for all the new buildings I've put up: go for quality, rather than just doing things haphazardly.
ASIAWEEK (KNIGHT): What is your proudest achievement?
TAIB (BOND): I put the politics of the country on a more realistic track: in terms of economic development, social integration and industrialization. I've laid down a good foundation for someone to take over from me. I have no regrets.
BOND: Oh drop it, Knight, this is insulting my intelligence. It hurts my political stance just as bad. Mr Director Haji Julaihi Haji Suut, you cannot ask a Michael Buble to sing Eminem’s and expect Mr Buble to jump about like some blonde monkey on stage. This is ridiculous!
DEVIL: Yeah? You have better idea? Or you forgot what play acting is?
BOND: I know what play acting is. This whole thing sounds silly, at least to me. Look, Devil, this script, this interview, is over 10 years old. Mahathir Mohamad was the Prime Minister then. At that interview Taib told Asiaweek Senior Correspondent Roger Mitton he will retire within five years.
KNIGHT: Coincidentally he’s still in the office this year.
BOND: Precisely my point. Why don’t we write the script from that angle instead? That would be more interesting to read.
DEVIL: Don’t forget, Jebon, Taib also said in the interview he can also stay a little longer to get things smoothed out before he leave the CM job.
BOND: Because, in his own word, “it would be irresponsible, against my personal ethics, and disappoint people around me, if the handover is not smooth, if it would split the party”. He said that. He also said “I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics”. Did he not say that?
DEVIL: So?
BOND: So what Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is doing in Samarahan now? For business or for politics?
(Silent)
BOND: In case you forgot Sulaiman won that Samarahan Parliamentary seat under PBB ticket on March 8 THIS YEAR. In case you forgot March 8 is Malaysia’s 12th General Election. In case you forgot PBB is political party within BN fold. In case you forgot all these come under one word – PO-LI-TICS!
(Silent)
BOND: In case you forgot, Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib is replacing his father Abdul Taib Mahmud as Member of Parliament in Samarahan. In another word, devil and gentlemen, Sulaiman the son has gone into politics in the full view of his father and contrary to what Taib said 10 years ago he didn’t ‘forbid’ his son from going into politics. Play that recorder, pakcik, let’s hear what Taib the father said in case I got it wrong.
.........
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
TAIB: I have forbidden all members of my family from going into politics.
BOND: So, devils and gentlemen, Taib has lied to Asiaweek, to himself and to us. Speaking of personal ethics and responsibility?
Ends…
Reproduced from:
1. Roger Mitton on Taib 'forbids' family from going into politics
2. Asiaweek on Taib's retirement
3. Bernama
4. DAP Sarawak
Taken from: http://borneo-warrior.blogspot.com/2008/11/taib-is-here-to-stay.html
Taib is here to stay.
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You see, Taib believes in numerology. His favourite number is 9. (Abdullah Bedawi's favourite is of course no.13)It was thought that Taib will leave in 2007(2+7=9),or in May this year when he would be 72.(7+2=9).
But most likely he will retire in the year 2016(2+0+1+6=9).
Thats another 18 years and by which time he will be 90 years old.
That is provided he has the health and stamina to go on,just like some of the chinese politicians in China.
Or, closer to home,like James Wong who is now 87,or Mahathir, now 84, and even Taib's uncle, Rahman,who is 82.
James, Mahathir and Rahman are legends and surely Taib will have no problems whatsoever emulating these gentlemen achivements.
His only obstacles will be his stamina,health and Pakatan Rakyat!
Well,fellow Sarawakians,hold your breadth and brace for more years of Taib's rule.
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