BY CHAMIL WARIYA
I DO not know the Premier of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, personally. However, the opportunity to sit at the same table during a lunch after he officiated the Zamalah Wartawan Malaysia event in Kuching on Nov 3, 2018, allowed me to get a general impression of his leadership as the new leader of Sarawak.
That conversation, which took place almost five years ago, remains etched in my memory because of the development vision he expressed, which has since been implemented step by step.
The slogan “Sarawak Maju Makmur” has become the guiding principle for this effort. All this could only be achieved after he strengthened his political position in Sarawak through the state election on Dec 21, 2021, while at the same time redefining the relationship between Kuching and Putrajaya through the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).
At the time of that conversation, Abang Johari was nearing his second year in leading Sarawak, having succeeded the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem, who passed away on Jan 11, 2017.
As the second-in-command in the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) and the Barisan Nasional (BN) government at that time, the transition of power was smooth. Abang Johari inherited a stable government.
The tough challenge he faced after taking over was the BN’s defeat at the federal level in the 14th General Election (GE14). As part of the BN coalition, Sarawak was also affected by the shift in the federal government in Putrajaya.
Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over and, for 22 months, ‘tormented’ Sarawak in ways never before imagined. PH component parties, including the DAP, took an antagonistic stance toward Sarawak.
Certain federal departments, which had cooperated well with the state leadership during the BN administration, became indifferent. RTM, controlled by the Minister of Communications, no longer provided daily coverage of the Sarawak government; instead, the national broadcasting service focused on PH component parties.
The Information Department of Malaysia no longer assisted with Sarawak government events, but Abang Johari remained calm and unfazed by these pressures. He took the realpolitik of that time in stride.
He saw that behind the various pressures exerted by the PH government and its allies in Sarawak, there was an opportunity for his government to create new state institutions that did not exist before.
Thus, the Sarawak Public Communication Unit (Ukas) was introduced on Aug 1, 2018, to serve as a public relations, dissemination, and information broadcasting body for the Sarawak government directly to the people, replacing the Information Department. Television Sarawak (TVS) and Suara Sarawak followed shortly after.
Politically, the BN’s defeat in GE14 gave Abang Johari the opportunity to establish GPS and redefine its relationships with other political parties — not as a follower but as an equal partner.
Officially, GPS was registered on Nov 19, 2018, but it remained an opposition to PH at the federal level for 22 months until the PH government fell in late February 2020.
GPS rejoined the federal government only when Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin became Prime Minister. It has remained part of the federal administration to this day, although the coalition in power in Putrajaya has since changed hands from PN to PH after GE15.
The main lesson Abang Johari learned during those 22 months as an opposition to Putrajaya has matured his political approach. For him, in Sarawak’s interests, the ruling party in the state must remain influential in the federal administration, regardless of which political party is in power.
As Premier, Abang Johari is developing Sarawak not as a state or region but as a ‘nation’ fully in control of its natural resources.
Unlike other state leaders, Abang Johari deserves recognition as a visionary Premier—a “Prime Minister” advancing his homeland.
