Veteran journalist and author James Ritchie with 35 book titles to his credit has kept himself abreast with political events in Sarawak. Excerpts from his Taib – 50 Years book tell of the present TYT’s efforts to transform Sarawak from a backwater state into what it is today during his 50 – year active political career.
DAYAKISM LOSES STEAM
In the September 1991 state election, Taib’s Sarawak BN thrashed the opposition “Maju” group by winning 49 seats. The Maju group lost all but seven seats, all of which were secured by PBDS.
It was a big blow to PBDS, who had won 15 seats in 1987. In this election around they had fielded 34 contestants but won only a fifth of that number and garnering only 12.5 percent of the votes.
It was an election with a record number of 167 contestants, the opposition fielding 92 candidates, the State BN 56 and 19 candidates as independents.
Taib’s personal tally was a massive 3,136-vote victory against three candidates in Asajaya – an improvement over his last election result.
The New Sunday Times in its article “Resounding Victory” quoted Taib as saying: “I hope this win will tell all the people and the politicians to drop racialism from our political platform. We should concentrate to tell the people how we can serve them” (NSUNT, September 29, 1991).
Taib was sworn in as Chief Minister for a fourth term before the Yang Dipertua Negeri Tun Ahmad Zaidi Adruce bin Muhammed Noor the day after the election.
PBDS REJOINS STATE BN
Immediately after the election, PBDS announced that it wanted to rejoin the coalition but the Sarawak BN coalition was suspicious of its intentions.
Soon after the election on September 30, 1991 Taib said: “You cannot make a bid for power and after you fail say: ‘ Ah, we are together… let’s share power. Heads I win, tails you lose.’
“My friends are advising me to be careful that I am not stabbed in the back again. It doesn’t mean that when you lose you can come back anytime. OK I lose again, but I’ll stab you in the back when I’m strong. If I lose again I can always apply to join you. No political organisation can tolerate that.”
The Chief Minister had almost been toppled and had learnt a lesson from the Ming Court incident – that the craze for power and control can bring out the worst in humankind. Fortunately, this was just a political battle where at worst, only pride was hurt.
After this election, Taib began to have a change of heart when he found that some of the dissidents showed signs of wanting to work with his group.
Despite bad blood between the rival leaders, the Chief Minister realised that the only way to move ahead was to seek a compromise with PBDS who still commanded the loyalty of a vital section of the Dayak community.
In 1994, PBDS’s leaders Moggie and Tajem signed a memorandum of understanding with Taib at his office. In this agreement both parties agreed to let bygones be bygones. The road was now clear for a solution which would suit all parties.
TAIB’S FIRST WALKOVER
After the 1995 parliamentary elections, the PBDS was finally accepted back into the State BN. Taib was happy that now all the groups had returned he could work on Political consolidation. With the return of PBDS the position of the Chief Minister became even more stable.
Following another round of delineation exercises, the number of State constituencies in Sarawak was increased from 56 to 62, making it the largest number of seats in any of the States.
In the 1996 state elections Taib received his first “walkover” in the Asajaya constituency and on September 9, was sworn in for a yet another term as Chief Minister of Sarawak. The State BN had again won, hands down. His political stature continued to grow from strength to strength.
Three years later, Sarawak’s 100 percent clean-sweep in the parliamentary elections in 1999 consolidated Taib’s position even more.
Most of the issues against Taib have been based on personal attacks.
From being a weak leader who dabbled in “bomohs” (witch doctors), Taib has also been accused of being a greedy and corrupted Chief Minister. Now he was being labelled an Asian “Rajah” who wanted to remain in power forever.
A foreign news report on September 29, 2001 stated:“To friend and foe alike, the dapper silver-maned chief minister is known as the ‘Brown Rajah’, a cheeky play on the famous White Rajahs, Britain’s Brooke family, which ran Sarawak like a private fifedom from 1841 until 1941
“These days, however, the Rajah’s perch in the state capital of Kuching appears a little shaky.
Discontent within his own political party had bubbled to the surface, triggered largely by Tan Sri Taib’s reluctance to put a succession plan in place.”
Little did the writer of the article realise that Taib had in fact already named three PBB candidates to succeed him – deputy president Datuk Abang Johari Tun Abang Haji Openg, Senior vice president Datuk Adenan Haji Satem and Datuk Effendi Norwawi.
Now it was up to the three to decide among themselves who was best able to lead Sarawak and continue with the good work Taib had started.
ANOTHER ELECTION VICTORY
In the 2001 State election, the Sarawak BN saw the rise of another coalition of opposition parties comprising three peninsular-based groups – the islamic PAS party, “Keadilan” or justice party and the DAP. One local-based party, STAR, which was led by a former BN stalwart, Dr Patau Rubis, fought their own battle.
But the opposition challenge fell flat because there were no serious issues which needed to be addressed.
When the election dates were announced, a record number of 171 candidates entered the race for seats, 63 of them independents.
The Chief Minister had hoped for a 100 percent win in all 62 constituencies but unfortunately, infighting and indecision led to the loss of two – SNAP losing the Meluan seat and SUPP losing in Kidurong. But 60 out of 62 was still not a bad record – especially for a leader who had been called a political despot.
In this election, Taib decided to return to his family’s hometown, Mukah, to contest in the Balingian constituency. During the election campaign, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi made his way to Mukah to give his support to Taib.
During the run-up to the campaign, the opposition groups continued to use slander and innuendoes to run down Taib and the Sarawak BN coalition. In some areas, threats were used against people who sympathised with the government.
The end result – Taib polled a 7,391-vote majority against the contenders all of whom lost their deposits. By winning handsomely, Taib proved that even though he had sought his fortunes far from Mukah 40 years ago, he was not a stranger to his village. The BN had bigger majorities in 46 seats.
On September 28, 2001 Taib was sworn in for a fifth term paving the way for him to become the longest serving Chief Minister in the country.
(To be continued)
