By Sim Kwang Yang
Sarawak is the only state in Malaysia where Umno has not established any presence. Within Sarawak itself, the talk is not so much if, but when Umno will make a grand entry, as it did in Sabah.
Now, the conditions seem riper than ever before for Umno’s foray into that vast eastern state on the northern shores of the Borneo Island, as Sarawak is on the verge of plunging into a leadership vacuum.
The Chief Minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud, has been in power for slightly more than a quarter of a century in that resource rich territory. (Pardon me for mentioning him by name. His string of titles is too long to be cited in full for a column of limited length like mine.)
But Taib is in his 70s, and rumours of his ailing health have been rife like wildfire in Kuching. I have heard various versions of his struggle with his cancer problem within some part of his internal anatomy, but like a good Sarawakian, I will not spread the rumour further.
He had three front-runners for successors within his party, the PBB earlier on: Abang Johari, Adenan Satem and Effendi Norwawi. All three seem to have fallen out of his favour since then. He has yet to name an alternative candidate for party president and Sarawak CM. There is also nobody in sight who is more powerful, more charismatic, or more senior than the above mentioned three veteran politicians.
Here, the unique ethnic composition of Sarawak enters into the power equation. Since 1970, when Abdul Rahman Yakub (left) returned from his federal Cabinet position to Kuching, to assume the exalted office of the CM, it has always been silently understood that the highest political office in the state must be a Melanau, the ethnic community to which both Rahman and his nephew-successor Taib belong.
The Melanau people make up about 5% only of the state’s population. Roughly half of them are Christians, and the other half are Muslims. They are mostly confined to the lower reaches of the Rejang Basin and along the neighbouring coast.
This racial sub-plot may be a moot point with political commentators from KL, but in Sarawak, it has sent off a ripple of undercurrent within the PBB. During past party elections, Malay leaders in PBB had quietly jostled for votes and party positions on the platform of restoring a Malay CM eventually in Sarawak. So far, they have not really succeeded.
Mahathir-Taib agreement?
One such past party senior leader, Abang Abu Bakar, left the PBB and tried to campaign for the entry of Umno into Sarawak, without avail. I count Abang Abu as my good friend and a good man, and am sad that he has since disappeared into the political wilderness.
All kinds of speculations run through the Sarawak grapevine of course. One version has it that the former PM and former Umno president Dr Mahathir Mohamad had reached an agreement with Taib in the 90s that as long as Taib is the Sarawak CM, Umno will leave Sarawak entirely in his charge.
(I have also heard that this agreement has expired recently, and we do have a new PM and a new Umno president. One has to wonder about the authenticity of any report of such secret deals. It is meant to be secret, so how did it reach the grapevine? But then, the logic of such a deal does make a great deal of sense. Taib does have a lot of chips to play with, because he can deliver a big block of parliamentary seats to the Umno PM to shore up his position in national politics.)
Suppose we accept this scenario at its face value. Taib is bound to orchestrate his gracious and secure exit from Sarawak politics sooner rather than later. Powerful or meek, rich or poor, all men are subject to the immutable natural law of ageing and dying. This is really the time for him to settle the succession problem. That he has not done so does not bode well for the future of Sarawak.
His problem is typical of all political strongman of course. Having consolidating his position of absolute leadership within the BN and his own PBB by a long process of divide and rule, he has ensured nobody is strong enough to challenge him. In the end, nobody is strong enough to replace him once he is compelled by nature to retire, in one way or another.
written by Rainbowseahorse, November 17, 2009 21:49:04
Then Sarawak will have to be BN at all times. How soon so many forgets that UMNO came a-calling into Sabah when Sabah became the SECOND opposition State (under PBS the) after Kelantan back in the '80s.
Prior to that, mamakthir's UMNO promised not to spread their evil vile presence & filth into the two states as long as they remain in BN. But the Sabah government, under the persuasion of Tunku Razaleigh, pulled out of the BN. Sarawak was supposed to do the same, but that traitor smiling tiger mohd tahi did not went through with the pact and mamakthir (with the FULL knowledge of Anwar) immediately punished Sabah by issuing over two million MyKads to all migrant workers in FELDA plantation to make damn sure our Sabahan's one million votes can never out-vote them again to become an opposition State.
So, if Sarawak do show signs of leaning towards the opposition, you can bet all your hard earned EPF money that UMNO will set up shop in Sarawak faster than you can say "mamakthir is a closet gay"!
-
- +2
-
-
written by Beni, November 17, 2009 18:14:18
-
- +1
-
-
written by Sutha, November 17, 2009 16:12:08
-
- +1
-
-
written by Sutha, November 17, 2009 16:05:36
Umno will 1) divide and rule Sarawakians along religion and tribal lines, 2) exploit all the resouces, 3) flush down the 20 points agreement of 1963, and 4) make it a poverty stricken state like illegal immgrant filled Sabah and make it beg Putrajaya for $. Umno is extremely good in such administration.
End result: Sarawakians will be fighting amongst themselves, forest and natural resources completely depleted, cost of living and living standards will be like those of overpopulated Java, non-muslims will convert to you-know-what for government aid and survival sake, immigrants from the large southern neighbour will become instant citizens for sake of voting power to keep the evil BN (aka Umno) as administrator.
-
- +3
-
-
written by Pangkis Pangazou, November 17, 2009 15:37:09
-
- +0
-
-
written by capricorn, November 17, 2009 11:42:47
-
- +1
-
-
written by beijing, November 17, 2009 11:28:48
-
- -3
-
-
written by batsman, November 17, 2009 11:26:03
-
- +0
-
-
written by beijing, November 17, 2009 11:08:03
-
- -3
-
-
written by SoundMan, November 17, 2009 10:48:49
-
- +1
-
-
written by asguard, November 17, 2009 09:25:10
-
- +0
-
-
written by Bigjoe99, November 17, 2009 09:18:15
-
- -1
-
-
written by corpuscavernosa, November 17, 2009 04:24:18
tHE DAYAKS ARE TO BE BLAMED FOR BEING WEAK AND USELESS AND NOT BEING ABLE TO PRODUCE A GOOD LEADER TO RULE SARAWAK, AS A MAJOR COMMUNITY.
-
- +2
-
-
written by Ocassey, November 17, 2009 02:44:58
IN SARAWAK THE MUSLIM MELANAUS IS A REPLICA OF UMNO KETUANAN MELAYUS, FOR THEY HAVE BEEN HAVING A STRANGLE-HOLD OVER THE WHOLE OF SARAWAK FOR UMPTEEN YEARS.
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE DAP IN THE PENINSULA HAPPENED TO THE DAP IN SARAWAK..... THOSE DOWN-TO-EARTH MELAYUS WHO HAVE BEEN BRAINWAHED BY THE UMNO MALAY SUPREMACIES IDEOLOGY IN THE PENINSULA WILL NEVER GO NEAR THE DAP LOGO.
SO, THE MELANAU MUSLIMS IN SARAWAK ALSO TREATED SARAWAK DAP LIKE A DISEASE !
WITH THE EVER ON - GOING PROGRAMS OF ISLAMISING THE DAYAKS EVERY WHERE , DAP'S FUTURE WAS NEVER A DOUBT DOOMED TO BE DIMMED BECAUSE THE UMNO IN THE PENINSULA HAD ALL THE WHILE BEDEVILLING THE "CHINESE LED" ROCKET.
TUNKU AZIZ WAS WISE TO SEE THROUGH THE REAL COLOURS OF UMNO BUT HE WAS BRAVER WHEN HE DECIDED TO BECOME A FULFLEDGED DAP MEMBER.
HOW MANY MORE DO WE HAVE OF SUCH PERSONALITY LIKE TUNKU AZIZ?
MALAY MUSLIMS HAVE BEEN FED A PHOBIA TOWARDS DAP WHICH IS TRULY A MULTI-RACIAL PARTY, UNFORTUNATELY ITS MEMBERSHIP BASE DOES NOT REFLECT SO.
DAP NEEDS TO DO A VIGOROUS MEMBERSHIP DRIVE------ NATION WIDE -----TO NEUTRALISE THAT PHOBIA !
-
- +4
-
-
And we all know all politicians are greedy. So 100% sure they will come and 100% sure they will do exactly the same as they did in Sabah by flooding Sarawak with PTI with Mykads.