Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who was among the three former leaders of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak (PBB), being honored by the party in conjunction with its extraordinary convention last Saturday, spoke of his wish to see Sarawak moving together with the rest of the country, if possible a bit more that the others, towards the year 2030 and beyond.
In his speech, which was well skirted to conform to his status as an elder statement of the party and his position as the man holding the highest office on the land in Sarawak, he said he was proud to see development taking place in rural areas particularly in places like Ulu Lawas, Ulu Baram and Ulu Kapit for the benefits of the hard working people, who deserve them.
Personally, he believed conditions in those areas must continue to be improved to induce young people with good education and training to stay a put and develop their areas. He admitted when he took office as the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak from March 26, 1981, he was worried of not being able to push development to those areas.
Tun Abdul Taib, who spent about 60 years of his public life in politics, initially through Parti Bumiputra and later through PBB, which was a merger between Parti Pesaka and Parti Bumiputra, said the period of his service had given him the opportunities to see the hardship and backwardness being experienced by the people, who through their own efforts, loyalty to and co-operation with Barisan Nasional – led government, are now involved in socio-economic activities in the mainstream of development.
His immediate successor, the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Haji Satem and a long -serving former Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr. Alfred Jabu anak Numpang were among those being honored together with him during the convention, which was attended by about 5,000 delegates, the biggest ever held by the party.
As the Chief Minister, he believed it would be difficult to develop Sarawak with small projects and transform remote areas like Ulu Baram and Ulu Kapit to become new growth areas. Hence, he had to think and implement big projects that could bring about changes with big impact on such areas in order to bring meaningful changes to the people, the future generations in particular.
However, the development of any big projects tends to trigger enormous challenges as any new idea and strategy, because they are less familiar and known, are bound to create anxiety among the people; they arouse enormous challenges.
Generally, Sarawakians tend to be nostalgic about their tranquil past. They have the feeling of uncertainty and uncomfortable with the impending changes, more so with the big strategic moves like building series of hydroelectricity dams and opening up big areas of land for commercial agriculture.
But the world is changing very fast and the people must move with time. They have no time for self-pity. Otherwise, they cannot expect change. They must have faith in themselves and that they can be as good as other people. However, they must work hard, be persistent and never give up.
They must believe in themselves; what others can do they can also do like them, if not better than them. Otherwise, they will be left behind. In this connection, the people must have the common spirit and ambition to improve their livelihood and the overall progress and prosperity of the society and nation.
Essentially, the people must move with time; they should not cling to old ideas if they want progress and prosperity. The people, who cannot adjust to change, will be left out in the process of development. Worse, they may pull back others to remain with them.
Tun Abdul Taib said the people must view globalization as opportunities to market products like gas, palm oil and others worldwide. However, those involved must be resourceful in order to be more competitive. Besides, they must work as a team, be innovative and knowledgeable about the country and state. They must also be resilient and have the ability to adjust to changes and work with the greater courage and determination in facing the challenges ahead.
He often said in all his years in politics, the thing that binds him with the people regardless of race or religion, is to know how best to serve them. As a leader, he must stay in touch with the people and have a common aim with them. More importantly, he must endeavor to serve the people to the best of his ability
He believed a leader must know how to help, for example, the poor people to become better, those who are not clever to become cleverer. The next thing is to ensure that young people, who get good education, must use it in the political process to serve the people, state and country.
Tun Abdul Taib, who served as the President of from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014, recalled PBB started with very few educated people but now there are a number of them in the party. All of them share a common desire to explain things to the people. Those who are in their 60s or 50s willingly share their experience and knowledge with others.
The younger ones, who have more knowledge and accurate theory but do not know the actual situation in country, benefit from the guidance of the older members in the services of people, state and country.
He said the spirit of political process must be kept alive among members, the young and educated ones in particular, to create opportunities for them to test their knowledge with the reality of the situation. Generally, PBB believes that the members must have links with the people. It endeavors to bring the people together and make them to become part of the political movement.
Tun Abdul Taib said the people, generally, expect politicians, who provide the leadership, to be able to work closely with the civil service in tackling problems related to development and argue the political side of it through political parties or through elected representatives, who must be mobile among the Rakyat.
More importantly, they must be ready to defend performances of the government and those of their own. Otherwise, they will be looked upon as wanting to eat the cake without going through the process of cooking it. They must have the nerve and gut to argue with their opponents; tell them that they just talk and do not perform.
Tun Abdul Taib recalled when he became the Chief Minister on March 26, 1981 about 80% of the areas was very rural in nature. But now only 48% of the population can be found in rural areas as more and more young people, after acquiring secondary or even tertiary education, have the deference to work in towns or cities or involved in the movement of rural – urban drift to look for educational or employment opportunities.
Undoubtedly, Sarawak, after more than 50 years of Independence, has been able to see changes in the livelihood of the people as compared with those in the early years. For example, the roads, which used to be restricted to urban areas only, are reaching the nooks and corners of the state.
Tun Abdul Taib is happy of being able to contribute efforts towards the progress and prosperity of the State. For example, he has been able to witness that the per capita income of the people rising from RM8,000 in 1981 to RM42,00 now. Generally, there is a growing uniformity in the economic situation between urban and sub-urban areas throughout the State.
Generally, the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups are enjoying the benefits of development. There were more people under employment than employment in 1963. Then the people, generally, had to live from hand to mouth. In other words, they had to work first before they could have their breakfast.
However, the people expect a higher level of progress and achievement ahead of them. Therefore, the struggle must not only be made continuous but intensified to realize their aspiration.
In this regards, the State Government is implementing the long – term development plan with the twin objectives to attain the status of a developed state with high income economy and to emerge as the most prosperous state in the country by the year 2030.
Sarawak has the good fortune of having huge hydropower potential that are being developed to generate up to 20,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2030. Besides, it has the huge coal reserves in Balingian and Nanga Merit in Ulu Kapit that can further generate 8.000 megawatts of electricity for further growth.
Generally, Sarawak can offer the advantage of power supply that is very competitive in terms of prices and the ability to build a steady growth of power supply. The State can generate sufficient energy to meet the current and future demands from the off-takers, the energy intensive industries in particular.
The State is being blessed with large tract of suitable land and huge volume of water body, which are critical for the production of food. Hence, it is in the position to contribute towards addressing issues related to food security.
In other words, it has the geographical size and abundant natural resources to contribute to the sustainable growth of the economy as the nation aspires to achieve a high income economy by the year 2020.
Tun Abdul Taib could visualize the potential of Sarawak to become more prosperous with the implementation of Sarawak Corridor Of Renewable Energy, which will transform more areas, initially those between Bintulu and Tanjung Manis and the hinterlands of Ulu Baram and Kapit.
The people can expect to see, with the State’s capability to develop hydroelectricity power, rural areas will be transformed to become commercially viable development areas. Actually, this begins to happen even in the deep parts of the hinterland in areas around Bakun and Murum in Ulu Kapit.
Generally, the people can take great pride with what the State been able to achieve from the backwater of development to become one of the fastest growing economy not only in the country but in the region due to efforts to promote unity and harmony among the people despite facing many challenges along the way. This reflects the resilience and strength of the people and the social unity and political stability of the state.
Generally, members of PBB subscribe to the spirit of the common struggle to show their pride as Malaysians of Anak Sarawak. As the backbone of Barisan Nasional Sarawak, members of PBB, which was a merger between Parti Pesaka and Parti
Bumiputra, they appreciate the need to be moderate in order to achieve the objective of the common political struggle in the service of the people, State and country.
Tun Abdul Taib believed the merger helped to convince other component parties of Barisan Nasional that the way to bring the people together in Sarawak, like in the rest of the country, is through a good and stable political leadership.
The PBB, as the second largest political parties in the country after UMNO, represents the Bumiputras, who comprise various ethnic groups like Malay/Melanau, Ibans, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu, Lun Bawang and others.
Selamat Berjuang untuk mencapai cita cita kea rah itu.
I wish to offer my humble thanks and gratitude to Allah SWT that I have been able to serve the people, state and country as a politician for 53 years including 33 years as the Chief Minister of Sarawak. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the people for their support and close co-operation since the early days when we started to strengthen our political system through PBB in particular.
After that I served as a Minister in the State Cabinet for five years, Deputy Minister and Cabinet Minister in the Federal Cabinet for 13 years as the Chief Minister of Sarawak for 33 years from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014. It was a long time.
