Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud is one of those rare breed of politicians who has helped transform Sarawak from a mere backwater region in the country in the 1960’s into a modern and progressive region in Malaysia today.
The Miri-born, Adelaide-trained lawyer has been in Sarawak’s political scene since the formation of Malaysia in 1963 right until today as the Head of State.
For him, to serve Sarawak has been a calling of sorts, as he actually had options after he graduated in 1960.
Taib’s political journey in transforming Sarawak began when he was appointed as the Minister of Communications and Works under the first Chief Minister of Sarawak Tan Sri Datuk Amar Stephen Kalong Ningkan’s cabinet.
He recalled that developing Sarawak was a daunting task as it was a geographically challenging, vast and under-developed state.
“On many occasions, we have to think outside the box in order to implement infrastructure development so as to ensure that we can maximise our resources to benefit the general populace,” he said in a press release by Astana Negeri in conjunction with Sarawak 60th Anniversary of Independence.
He pointed out that in those days, beside the threat of the communists’ insurgencies, Sarawak also lacked the necessary funding to implement projects to tackle harsh environment and terrains, especially in the vast interior of the state.
“But thank God, we have managed to overcome those challenges with capable people who were really hard working in order to implement basic infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges to connect major towns such as Simanggang, Sibu, Miri and Limbang right up to Lawas,” he said.
After a stint at the state-level, Taib was called by the former Prime Minister, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra Al-Haj to be part of the Federal Cabinet, where he excelled in all the portfolios assigned to him such as Minister of General Planning and Socio-Economic Research, Minister of Primary Industries, Minister of Defence and finally as Minister of Federal Territories before he was appointed as the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak on March 26, 1981.
Fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak — focuses on ‘Politics of Development’
When Taib took over the helm of the state government, Sarawak was one of the bottom three least developed regions in the country. Then, the poverty rate was about 70 per cent and it was still facing the threats from remnants of the armed communist terrorists in pockets of areas under the Rejang Area Security Command (RASCOM).
Then the infrastructural connectivity was only confined to only urban areas such as Kuching, Sibu and Miri, with the rest of the state being largely unconnected.
As Chief Minister and Minister of Resource Planning, Taib was able to implement major projects that brought maximum development to Sarawak through his ‘Politics of Development’ policy which formed the basis of his policy which focuses on COME — change, opportunity, mobility and equality to all Sarawakians.
“‘Politics of Development’ is a holistic approach in balancing the whole spectrum of socio-economic development that involves the whole strata of society regardless of race and religion,” he said.
He also introduced the concept of “The Confluence of Rivers” to educate the people on the need to respect each other in a multi-religious and multi-racial society in Sarawak.
“These are some of the challenges that we faced in the initial formation of Malaysia,” he pointed out.
Contributions
Taib achievements are countless, but here are some of his notable contributions: the setting up of Bintulu Development Authority (BDA) in order to harness Sarawak’s rich oil and gas resources; the setting up of new administrative divisions such as Mukah, Betong and Samarahan; the elevation of Kuching and Miri as cities; the setting up of Laila Taib College in Sibu; the setting up of various universities such as University Technology Sarawak (UTS) in Sibu, Swinburne University campus (Kuching) and Curtin University campus (Miri).
He was also instrumental in ensuring that Sarawak should have its first public university with the setting up of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) in Kota Samarahan. There are numerous other training institutes and colleges which he also helped to set up in order to train local Sarawakians in various fields, not only to help develop Sarawak but also to uplift the standard of living of the people.
The social aspect of the people was also well taken care of when he implemented the dewan suarah (civic centres) all over major towns in Sarawak to cater for the growing needs of the people. He believed the successful implementation of the development programmes would bring about positive changes, create ample employment and business opportunities that would require the people to be mobile.
“In those days, without the civic centre, it would be very challenging to gather the masses for major events as there was a lack of such facilities,” he said.
Besides establishing schools, colleges and universities, Taib also established many industrial parks such as the Samajaya Industrial Park, Demak Jaya Industrial Park, Samalaju Industrial Park and Tanjung Manis Industrial Park. These industrial parks have created plenty of jobs for local people, especially those from the rural areas.
Besides developing the oil and gas industry, Taib had also transformed the primary resources industry such as timber, oil palm and forest plantation that have been able to provide ample employment to Sarawakians over the years.
His development programmes also covered land development, timber and palm oil industries, conservation of environment, education from preschool to tertiary education, urban and rural development, reinvigorating and re-energising the civil service not only to upgrade the quality of services but to bring the services to the people.
Besides, he also created a number of statutory bodies such as Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC), SACOFA and enlarges the roles and functions of the established ones like Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (SALCRA).
He also transformed Sarawak’s economy from agriculture-based to industrialisation in order to migrate the people’s income from medium to high income economy in tandem with the national agenda to become a developed economy by the year 2030.
Other achievements, among others, included transforming Kota Samarahan as an educational hub; RECODA as catalyst to develop renewable energy; Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) as the backbone of Sarawak’s political stability; and Sarawak Regatta as symbol of harmony.
In order to further cement the already harmonious society, Taib re-introduced the Sarawak Regatta, which was initially introduced by James Brooke to encourage social interactions among the warring factions.
Today, thousands of people from all walks of life would converge at the banks of the Kuching Waterfront to witness the spectacular show. The Sarawak Regatta has thus proven itself to be the symbol of peace and harmony among Sarawakians of all races and religions.
“As such, the current peace and harmony must be continuously encouraged and preserved as we have achieved them through much sweat and blood in the course of our history such as through the ‘Confrontation’ and communist threats,” he said.
Taib, who is now the seventh governor of Sarawak, also stressed the need to observe peace and harmony to enable Sarawak achieve developed status by 2030.
“At the same time, I would also like to urge our younger generation to appreciate the current political stability that we have been enjoying, and it must not be taken for granted,” he said.
And in conjunction with Sarawak’s 60th anniversary of independence within Malaysia, Taib reminded that everyone must continue to respect our leaders just like we respect our parents.
“This way, we will be able to continue to transform Sarawak, which aims to achieve a developed status by 2030,” he said.
