Sarawak: From Ningkan's sacking to Taib's dominance

Malaysiakini has published Sim Kwang Yang's The Dayak dilemma, Part 2. This time around, I don't quite agree with his thrust which suggests that Tunku Abdul Rahman's Federal Government had a clandestine organising role in orchestrating the removal of Stephen Kalong Ningkan. There was more to it that meets the eye. First, read Sim's version of the Ningkan affair here:

Although the demographic composition of the various ethnic communities is vastly different from that in West Malaysia, there have been tremendous pressure from Kuala Lumpur for Sarawak politics to conform to the racial equation that exists in the Umno-led alliance on the Malayan Peninsula even before Merdeka.

MCPX

The idea that then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman and Sarawak chief ministers Rahman Yakub and his nephew, Taib Mahmud (both from the partisan Rakyat Jati Sarawak, or Berjasa) shared was the creation of a Sarawak alliance dominated by Muslim/Malay/Melanau leaders with subservient Dayak and Chinese partners.

From the very beginning prior to and after Merdeka, there was this heavy tendency for federal intervention into Sarawak politics to ensure the creation of a Malay nationalist polity through Malaysia. Even then, Umno was determined to create Sarawak in its own image. This tendency at the Malayanisation of Sarawak politics was resisted by the first Iban chief minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan of the Sarawak National Party (Snap).

For this and many other reasons, Stephen Kalong Ningkan was forcibly removed from office by a federally initiated declaration of emergency and a constitutional amendment in Parliament. A stop-gap Iban chief minister Tawi Sli was elected, and after the general election of 1970, Rahman Yakub – a Muslim Melanau – stepped in to take over the helm of Sarawak government. Muslim Melanau dominance has continued to this day.

I find Gordon P Means' version of this history more compelling. I had blogged about precisely this episode in a piece entitled, Sarawak Land Reform - The Historical Context where I extracted from Gordon P Means' seminal book, Malaysian Politics as follows:

In his seminal book Malaysian Politics (2nd Edition 1976), Gordon P. Means wrote on the saga of Stephen Kalong Ningkan's attempt to institute land reform in Sarawak and, in so doing, Means also provided a version of the events leading to the sacking of Ningkan. It wasn't so much the sinister Federal Government's hidden hand as Sarawak's own political chicanery that caused the downfall of Ningkan. And, the move to sack Ningkan is likely to have been sparked off by the issue of land reform. This is an issue that continues to simmer until today and, the issue of Native Customary Land may figure even more prominently in the forthcoming state elections:-

During 1965 a political crisis developed within the Sarawak Alliance over land reform proposed by the Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan of SNAP. While the legislation had been under consideration for almost three years the decision to implement the proposals came as a surprise to those who hoped they would be forgotten. The basic question was whether the system of native land rights should be amended to allow greater land use by the immigrant communities. Under previous laws the Chinese could only own land in very limited areas designated as "Mixed Zones", while Malays and natives own land in "Native Areas". In addition, the interior tribal natives had customary rights over "Native Customary Land". Chief Minister Ningkan's land reform bills would have changed these laws by giving the interior natives right to acquire full title to "Native Customary Land", including the right to sell their land to whomever they wished. Consequently, the proposed reforms were advantageous to interior tribal natives who would gain title to large tracts of potentially valuable jungle land (emphasis added).

Means went on to describe the following:-

When Ningkan got wind of the efforts being made by BARJASA Secretary-General Inche Taib Mahmud to undermine his government from within, he dismissed Inche Taib from the Sarawak Cabinet. This action precipitated a crisis between the pro-Ningkan forces and the pro-Kuala Lumpur forces. From the point of view of the Federal Government, the test of strength came prematurely, for only BARJASA and Pesaka joined the revolt, while Ningkan retained the support of his own party (SNAP) along with PANAS and the SCA. The next day an entourage of BARJASA and Pesaka officials flew to Kuala Lumpur, and later produced a letter which expressed "no confidence" in Ningkan. On the basis of this letter, signed by 21 members of the Council Negri, Tunku Abdul Rahman demanded that Ningkan resign. Ningkan refused to do so since the opposition parties had no desire to bring down his government on this issue (i.e. the issue of land reform in Sarawak), and thus with their votes he was confident of gaining 21 of the 42 votes in the Council Negri, plus the Speaker's casting vote. Consequently, BARJASA and Pesaka boycotted the Council Negri sessions, preferring instead to invite direct federal intervention.

The rest, as they say, is history. Ningkan was sacked and the attempt at land reform was buried.

The key document that we should re-visit is the Report of the Land Committee, 1962 (Kuching, Sarawak; Government Printer, 1963) published by the Government of Sarawak.

Sim's take on the Dayak dilemma

Sim Kwang Yang has begun what appears to be a several part article in Malaysiakini on the Sarawak natives and their socio-political outlook. As an interested observer of Sarawak politics I cannot resist the need to display the entire article entitled, The Dayak dilemma (Part 1) here. 

Sim's style of writing is always interesting to read. His nuanced observations are worth evaluating. Being a Sarawakian himself, his pieces on Sarawak always resonates that much more.

What is clear is that many are looking at the Sarawak native community as a possible force in the forthcoming Sarawak state elections. Hitherto, it has been the Chinese and Malay-Melanau groupings that has featured in Sarawak politics despite the strong Iban leadership between 1963 and 1965 led by Stephen Kalong Ningkan.

Have the Iban-Dayaks been too neglected for too long? Are the current native leaders in Sarawak BN latter-day Uncle Toms? Will the natives come together in a show of unity that has never been possible in Sarawak's political history? And, when they do come together, will they be for or, against Taib Mahmud and Sarawak BN? 

So many questions. Read Sim's take below:

There is a rising tide of excitement and euphoria among many politically conscious Dayaks in Sarawak over a series of massive grand dinners held first in Sibu, then in Miri last week, and finally ending in Kuching in the immediate future, to welcome Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

Since the next Sarawak election is widely speculated to be held next year, the sudden surge of Anwar’s PKR in this East Malaysian state could be a prelude towards an all-out no-holds-barred assault on the Sarawak Barisan Nasional. The prize that PKR seeks will be state power in the Land of the Hornbill, to add to their Pakatan Rakyat stable of state governments, in Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kedah, and Kelantan.

In this ambitious project, the Dayak voters’ support becomes critical, for they constitute nearly half of the total population of Sarawak.

By virtue of the logic of politics of race, which is entirely based on ethnic head-counting, the Dayaks ought to be the dominant community in Sarawak. The chief minister ought to be a Dayak. 

The reality is quite a different thing. The first Sarawak CM Stephen Kalong Ningkan (1920-1997) was indeed an Iban. But he was forcibly removed in 1996 by a federally initiated Declaration of Emergency and a constitutional amendment. Since 1970, the two Sarawak CMs have been Melanau Muslims.

Since then, the Dayak communities have been mired in political marginalisation and socio-economic backwardness that can hardly be imagined by people living in affluent states of Peninsular Malaysia.

Time stood still 

Living mostly in the vast rural areas of Sarawak, many still live without basic amenities such as roads, jetties, clinics, treated drinking water, and electricity. Time for them has stood still since independence in 1963.

In most villages that I have visited, young men and women have left their community, to seek work and better prospect in large towns in Sarawak, with increasing number crossing the ocean to West Malaysia and Singapore. Only the very old and the very young are left to eke out a meagre living on their land. The massive exodus of the young has practically emptied the rural communities of the vital force for social and economic renewal in rural Sarawak.

(The think-tank people in PKR should start to think about devising a method to enable these Sarawak diasporas to go back to Sarawak to vote in the next state election.)

Meanwhile, the Dayak people have seen escalating erosion to their land tenure held under Sarawak Native Customary Rights (NCR), from first massive logging, and then giant plantations and dam building have robbed many Dayak communities of their land.Without land, the physical survival and the survival of their cultural traditions and ethnic identity are threatened.

It would be tempting to blame the socio-economic marginalisation of the Dayaks entirely on racial discrimination, but that would be too simplistic. Although many Malay/Muslim politicians and technocrats have amassed fabulous wealth under the patronage of CM Taib Mahmud, the Malay/Melanau people too live in the same kind of socio-economic quagmire that impedes progress in their community.

I have visited the coastal area of Samarahan near Kuching. The people there had been represented by Taib Mahmud in Parliament for decades, and despite some huge drainage and irrigation projects, the Malay people there are still poor. For some fishermen there, they wake up to think of how to find their next meal.

Since the political demise of Stephen Kalong Ningkan, the failure of the Dayak nationalist impulse in Sarawak in presenting a more inclusive Sarawakian narrative is one of the reasons for its failure. 

26 indigenous communities

Even so, the imagined Dayak nation – as a theoretical construct – is an anomaly within the context of the politics of race in Malaysia. 

As an important political category, the terms “Dayak” and “Dayakism” came to prominence only upon the formation of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) in 1983 as a splinter group from the Sarawak National Party. 

The term “Dayak” is supposed to signify all non-Muslim natives of Sarawak. But by definition in the federal constitution, there are some 26 different indigenous communities in Sarawak that can be regarded as Dayaks. If you include all the sub-groups that fall within any one of these communities, then there are actually well over 40 distinct ethnic groups that could be considered as “Dayak” communities.

They are all divided by lineage, language, customs, and religion.  Many of these communities have even fought prolonged bloody wars with one another in the old days.

(I once asked a Jagoi Bidayu from the Bau area why the Bidayuhs had chosen to live mostly on high grounds up on the hillside, thus earning them the name of “Land Dayak” under the British administration, in contrast to the Ibans who were called “Sea Dayaks”.  He said that in the old days, it was easy to shoot down at the enemies during wars with the marauding Ibans.)

The Bidayuh is an interesting case in point. Though lumped together as a single ethnic group, this small community comprising some 8% of the total population of Sarawak has seven major dialects, and countless sub-dialects. Sometimes, when you travel 20 kilometres down the road, you find another group of Bidayuhs speaking another dialect. 

Such ethnic diversity may be a gold mine for cultural anthropologists, but it must be a nightmare for politicians to try to forge a Dayak nation, without recourse for appeal to a single language, a single religion, and a single history.

Fortunately for them, all the Dayaks of Sarawak are united in two things.

With the exception of some Penans, they all depend on shifting cultivation as their traditional way of life. Land is more than a piece of property. Their land is the source of their immediate sustenance, the bosom of the gods that protect them, and the burial ground of their ancestors. 

Their land, their rivers, and their forests are all alive with mysterious forces that interact with them in their daily lives. They will never harm the land which is like a mother to them. To fault shifting cultivation for deforestation is the paragon of cynicism. To deprive their land rights through legislative and administrative fiats is the apex of injustices.

Secondly, all Dayak communities have their own set of internal rules called adat, handed down from generation to generation through word of mouth and daily practice. They even have their own tiers of native courts to trial offenders and settle disputes. In the hearts of many natives, these rules and these courts have greater force than the laws of the state and the Borneo judicial system.

Limited political horizon

Unfortunately, in recent decades,the state appointed judges of these native courts, the Pengulus and the Temengongs, have often sided with the state government when it comes to disputes between Dayak villagers and timber companies.   

It is this common self-identification of all Dayak communities to their extraordinary tie with their land and their common cultural heritage of living by their adat that allows the nationalist idea of a “Dayak nation” to flourish for a while.   

Then again, Dayak nationalism could not be sustained for long because they simply do not have an alternative mass medium of communication, for them to imagine themselves as a single nation.  According to Benedict Anderson, print capitalism was one of the vehicle for nationalist sentiments to grow. 

Living in scattered far-flung and sometimes very remote jungle communities, the Dayaks depend heavily on word of mouth, personal contact, and the government controlled radio for their information. Newspaper delivery would be impossible for most long-houses situated a long way from towns. Many are poor by the standards of modern cash economy; it is unlikely that they can afford the newspaper subscription fees. Without a viable market, there is no chance for an Iban or a Bidayuh newspaper to survive.Naturally, the Internet Is a different universe for them.

Therefore, the political imagination of the rural Dayak voters seldom extends beyond their part of the river or mountain. I have all too often heard Dayak political and community leaders talk about “my people”. What they mean is their folks and kin living in the few villages surrounding their own. This limited political horizon is not conducive towards creating a state wide national consciousness, and it creates ample opportunity for opportunism for the Dayak ruling class at the highest level. 

Having been exposed to massive money politics for many decades past, voting means very different things for the Dayaks. The vote is often seen as a currency of exchange for tangible immediate benefits like cash and gifts. I have witnessed how Dayak communities that had protested vehemently against logging voting consistently for the BN during subsequent general elections. They have yet to link democracy with changing their own collective fate.

So now the Dayaks are looking to PKR as another political vehicle to regenerate and revive their political fortune. PKR is a multiracial party, and that means the Dayak leaders should aspire towards a more universal inclusive and enlightened discourse, to educate every Dayak voter on the meaning of democracy first.

Meanwhile, the PKR leaders in West Malaysia must also realise that they should take a crash course in Dayak culture, if they are to campaign effectively in Sarawak. Like Sabah, Sarawak is a cultural universe unto itself. Outsiders wishing to help the disenfranchised people of Sarawak will have a thing or two to learn from Sarawakians first.

Sim Kwang Yang unleashed

I have been enjoying Sim Kwang Yang's columns in Malaysiakini all this time. In all this time I have noticed his remarkable restraint and balanced analysis. Sim's considerable intellect and excellent penmanship is always a pleasure to read.

In his latest piece entitled, Changing the Head Hornbill in S'wak, the ex-DAP Sarawak pol has maintained his balanced analysis with a major difference. This time Sim leaves a sting. The quiescent lion has decided to roar louder now.

Sim's piece is revealing in suggesting that the mood has very palpably changed in Sarawak from the possibility of change to the probability of change. The difference lies in the mobilisation of the Dayak vote.

Once again, I take the liberty to reproduce the Malaysiakini in full so that as many Malaysians as possible (those who bother to visit this blog, anyway) can further understand the nuances of Sarawak politics and the significance it portends as a major tipping point for overall political change in Malaysia as a whole.
_____________

Should Abdul Taib Mahmud - the chief minister of Sarawak - step down, after 27 years at the helm of near absolute power in the resource rich state?

MCPX

Does PBB - his party that holds half the number of seats in the Sarawak State Assembly - bully the other component parties of the Sarawak Barisan Nasional? The answer to both questions is a resounding yes!

But this kind of questions is only relevant to members and supporters of the Sarawak BN. Other Sarawakians know very well that Taib will not step down on his own accord.

He has to cling on to the throne in Sarawak, to protect the future of his gargantuan family conglomerate CMS (an acronym that could designate the company Cahaya Mata Sarawak or the title Chief Minister of Sarawak - an interesting coincidence).

Whenever conversations meander off onto the topic of the Sarawak CM in private circles, it is hard for people not to mention CMS in the same breath. Its dominant presence in the Sarawak's economy - especially in the public sector in the state - is well known.

Actually, the acronym for CMS has its origins in a precursor to the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC): Cement Manufacturers Sarawak.

The report in The Edge

The repressed press of Malaysian media have seldom told the story of CMS. On the other hand, there have been a few reports by international media on Taib's family business. The following report by Michael Backman, entitled 'In Sarawak, politics and cash are all in the family', was published in The Edge on March 15 2001 in Melbourne, Australia:

"CMS Group was originally a joint venture between the state government's Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) and the neighbouring state of Sabah.

The group started as a monopoly cement producer to feed the building boom in both states. In 1989, the Sabah government sold its stake and the Sarawak government decided the company should be listed on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. At the same time, the chief minister's brother, Onn bin Mahmud, and his two sons, Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib and Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, were brought in.

The Taib family owns about half the company and the SEDC's equity has been diluted to about eight percent. Effectively, the chief minister had decided to privatise CMS - and it was his family that bought it.

CMS has since expanded to more than 40 subsidiaries that operate in infrastructure development, water supply, steel making, transport, manufacturing, property development, financial services and stock broking.

But CMS is not the Taib family's only business concern. Timber is the main source of Sarawak's wealth. Logging concessions, which the Sarawak government hands out, are are a license to print money. The chief minister's family happens to possess significant logging concessions.

Indeed, claims have been published that companies associated with Taib and his supporters hold about 1.6 million hectares in timber concessions with a combined logged value of up to US$12 billion.

Taib's time in politics has coincided with the apparent accumulation of enormous family wealth. He is known for his expensive tastes - he is rumoured to have paid almost US$2 million for the grand piano that belonged to late American showman Liberace."

There it is. The above report, published in 2001, is still relevant today. The question of whether Taib's discharge of his official duty as CM amidst the meteoric rise of CMS constitutes a conflict of interest or outright corruption is a purely academic one.

As long as he can deliver all or nearly all 31 parliamentary seats in Sarawak to keep the Umno prime minister in power, as has been proven during the March 8 general election, the PM and all the federal agencies under his jurisdiction will not touch the Sarawak CM with a ten-foot pole.

A dynasty in the making?

If you check into the traffic on Sarawak Internet, you will find the name of the CM, together with the name of Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu, the most vilified and defiled names in the state. A referendum among Sarawak netizens will conclude that indeed the CM has overstayed his welcome.

But the CM will not go gently into the good night in more ways than one. His brother joined the Sarawak State Assembly as a member in the last state election in 2006.

In the May parliamentary election, his son Sulaiman was elected as MP, and was promptly co-opted into the federal government as a deputy minister, presumably to learn about the art of government. Do we see a dynasty in the making? Only time will tell.

Therefore, for Taib's detractors to fulfill their dream of changing the chief minister of Sarawak, there is only one way, and that is through the next state general election speculated to be held as early as next year.

Slightly more than a week ago, during a dinner in Sibu organised by "Friends of PKR", 4000 people of all races turned up to welcome Anwar Ibrahim and witness a public ceremony in which Gabriel Adit, the current independent state assemblyperson representing Ngemah and a former vice-president of the now defunct Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) submit his application to join PKR, together with 12,000 others.

The choice of Sibu as the dinner venue is significant. Sibu is sited on the bank of the mighty Rejang River, and upstream, the Rejang basin is one of the most notable Iban heartlands in Sarawak. Adit's dramatic personal political make-over is symbolic for many disgruntled Dayaks in Sarawak. Some Dayaks have already predicted a new dawn for Sarawak, a revival of Dayak power on the political scene in the state.

Nothing is impossible in politics I suppose, having just witnessed the historic conclusion of the American presidential election. But Sarawak is no America, and Sarawakians are a far cry from Americans in many political aspects.

The opposition parties in Sarawak are now fragmented and weakened, divided by race, region, and personal feuds among their leaders. The hounds also run with the hares. The Sarawak political arena is quite a muddied pond full of all kinds of reptiles, swimming along with the real dragons.

Eventually, the Achilles' Heel of the opposition parties in Sarawak is their lack of funds, in sharp contrast to the seemingly inexhaustible source of funds lying in the Barisan Nasional war chest.

Unlike politics in the peninsula states, Sarawak politics, especially in the rural constituencies, is still mired in money politics. That is why the cash-rich Sarawak BN has been so successful in so many past parliamentary and state elections.

I have met many rural voters who actually would demand cash for their votes. Ugly as it may seem, it has become one of the less savoury features of Sarawak democracy.

To break this distasteful tradition, the opposition must not buy votes, or give all kinds of largesse during general elections, including building materials, personal gifts in kind, or standing feasts that can last throughout the duration of the campaign period. (Yes, this is how things are done in Sarawak.)

They must device more meaningful and innovative methods of campaigning, the likes of which Sarawak rural voters have never seen before.

Anwar's full attention

But then there is still the huddle of reaching the rural voters. There is still the question of funding, needed for large groups of canvassers and campaigners to travel long distances across difficult terrain to motivate and organise local grassroots leaders in every village and every longhouse throughout this vast and sparsely populated state where modern infrastructure for communication and transport is primitive at best.

We are talking about hundreds and thousands of ringgit for one rural constituency alone. Multiply that by the 50 or so rural and semi-rural constituencies and you get the rough estimate of how much money it takes to change the CM of Sarawak.

This is only one hurdle. I can write a book on the problems and experiences of contesting in Sarawak alone.

But the great dinner in Sibu is a good start towards solving those problems. Obviously Anwar was suitably impressed; he said that if the response from Sarawakians is so good, he should perhaps visit Sarawak more often.

I believe PKR is a suitable vehicle for positive change in Sarawak for various reasons, not least of which is the clout of the party in national politics and in the Pakatan Rakyat coalition.

For that change to happen, Anwar may have to turn his full attention to this vast eastern state of Sarawak - now.

He has to go there often, to heal wounds among the opposition camp, to build consensus and coalition, to work out a statewide strategy, coin mission statements, supervise organisation, to recruit new talents who will be free from negative political baggage, and above all, squeeze out the funds from whatever resources at his disposal for the big campaign. He has to do it, like yesterday.

The prize is worth his trouble. In Sarawak, state power determines the outcome of the parliamentary elections most of the time. A change of the chief minister will greatly improve Anwar's chance of becoming the prime minister of Malaysia in the next parliamentary general election.

For justice in the Land of the Hornbill in the emergence of a new Malaysia!

Taib under increasing pressure

The piece written by Joe Fernandez in Malaysiakini entitled, Many in favour of Taib going sooner, not later reflects the growing restiveness of the various communities in Sarawak against Taib Mahmud's style of aloof leadership by domination. Taib is now the longest-serving state leader ever in any state in Malaysia.

While such longevity speaks volumes of Taib's political astuteness, it also screams at the calcification of BN Sarawak.

The SUPP has a proud history of steering an independent and uniquely Sarawakian position both at the state level and the national stage. Idealistic Ong Kee Hui and Stephen Yong founded SUPP and narrowly steered the party through the Communist challenge. They opposed the formation of Malaysia. Later, upon being persuaded by Tun Razak and BN, they pragmatically joined the BN fold. But, three decades later, the SUPP has lost touch with the Chinese community. It's leadership generally carry an arrogant sneer when meeting with the rakyat.

The Dayak community has deliberately been kept in a lost world by the persistent and consistent loss of potential leaders who are co-opted into the world of largesse offered by Taib and BN Sarawak. The Dayak leaders in BN Sarawak voluntarily undergo a political neutering process, trading the rights and honour of their own community in favour personal gains, political and economic. Truly, early leaders like Stephen Kalong Ningkan would weep for the Dayak community that has never recovered from the sacking of Ningkan as Chief Minister.

The Fernandez piece in Malaysiakini reflects the growing restiveness of Sarawak's various communities who are increasingly aware that they are disenfranchised and, in many ways, betrayed by BN Sarawak leaders who have become callous towards the needs of the ordinary rakyat. Read the Malaysiakini piece in full below:
___________________

Except for one studied reaction from a political secretary to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, all the others in a selected SMS sampling of several key opinion leaders in Sarawak agreed wholeheartedly with Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen that the former

MCPX

should step down sooner rather than later.

The opinion leaders sampled covered members of parliament, state assemblypersons, political secretaries and senior party activists, all from the ruling BN component parties.

“It’s naïve to think that the chief minister’s coming or going is at the call of an opposition MP or several MPs,” went the only response that seemed to veer towards Taib. Like the others polled, he wanted his name kept out of the public limelight.

Another who had watched the interview and was queried on this reply, responded: “Yes. But what he (Chong) said is very damaging. Others will use the interview to whack Taib with it. The incestuous role of CMS is being queried.”

“True also. The truth is Taib’s critics have no plan of their own for the governance of Sarawak . . . . and no resources,” said a senior party activist in PBB (Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu), Taib’s party.

Asked what he meant by resources, he replied: “Resources for the fight to take over the government.”

What's his excuse to stay on?

The fact that the Taib family is well-heeled is in no doubt, a point repeatedly stressed by Chong in his appearance on the ‘Uncensored’ talk show hosted by Malaysiakini editor Francis Paul Siah. The show was recorded on Thursday.

Short of labeling Taib as extremely corrupt, Chong pointed out that the chief minister can be accused of improper dealings and getting caught in conflict of interest situations in feathering his own nest in the years he has been in power.

“Wow!” was the response from a senior state cabinet minister. He added that his silence to a renewed query can be taken as a sign that he agrees with Chong but on condition that his name was not revealed.

A third response: “What he said is an understatement of the decades that Taib has been in power.”

“It will eventually become really embarrassing,” said a state assemblyman from a rural seat. “What’s his excuse to stay on? He should leave it to the younger generation. I think that it’s now a race between Taib, Samy Vellu and Pairin to see who can stay on the longest. My guess is that Taib will be the last to go, fortunately or unfortunately, and probably Samy the first.”

One was hopeful for the future: “I don’t think that the tsunami will come to Sarawak. But you can never tell.”

Other responses were along similar lines although there were some who simply responded: Ha Ha Ha.

It’s anyone’s guess what such responses mean. It could either mean that Chong is just a mosquito bite, so complete is Taib’s vice-like grip on the state, or it may mean that they are tickled pink that Taib is coming under increasing and greater public scrutiny for outstaying his welcome, among other things.

Those polled had been informed and asked a simple question: “Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen has called on Taib, in a Mkini.tv interview, to step down as chief minister. He has cited various reasons - hanging around too long, having done more harm than good and, legally speaking, indulging in improper dealings and conflict of interest situations to feather his own nest. He once reminded Taib of a Confucian proverb: “If the leader is rich and the people are poor, then that leader ought to be ashamed of himself.”

“What do you think? Be brief.”

Son, niece in Parliament

In the March general election, Taib recommended his son, Sulaiman, for a parliamentary seat and later a post in the Federal Cabinet. He also fielded a niece. In the 2006 state election, the chief minister brought in a brother as a state assemblyman.

Sulaiman was executive chairman of RHB Bank for a time until Bank Negara ruled, citing conflict of interest, that he could not hold the post.

However, the son of the chief minister is more remembered for the alleged assault on a former television personality Avaa Vanja Ramli (photo) in a Kuala Lumpur night club in 2003 than for his role as a banker or legislator.

Sulaiman is now the deputy tourism minister.

Taib became chief minister of Sarawak in 1981 - the same year Dr Mahathir Mohamad became prime minister. He took over from his maternal uncle Abdul Rahman Yakub who assumed the post of the Sarawak Governor for a term.

The next state election is not due until 2011 but could come as early as next year, sources say. Taib is said to be in the best of health although he had been diagnosed not so long ago with colon cancer. He has been under medical treatment and supervision in Singapore and Australia but shows no signs of slowing down or making way for a new line-up.

In the past, Taib had often talked about grooming his successor from a possible list of three but, except for Abang Johari Tun Openg , the other two either quit or were left out from being in the running. Taib has often hinted at the possibility of packing Abang Johari off to the Federal Covernment but apparently fears a Malay backlash. Similarly, he has blown hot and cold with Alfred Jabu, his deputy for 27 years and the leader of the Pesaka wing in PBB.

Taib now has his work cut out as Jabu has become increasingly unpopular among the Dayaks and has been accused of trying to emerge as the self-appointed paramount chief of the Dayaks by bullying his way in the selection of Dayak MPs and state assemblypersons for all BN component parties.

Federal tutelage and betrayal: Sarawak 1965 to 1967

"During the 1965 troubles, Chief Minister (Stephen Kalong) Ningkan took care to emphasise that disputes should be settled in Sarawak without intervention from Kuala Lumpur. While he had been actively cooperating with the Federal Government, particularly on matters of economic development, he was not in sympathy with some federal policies. For example, he did not believe that Malaya's communal policies were necessarily appropriate for Sarawak.

He resisted efforts to speed up Malayanisation of the Sarawak civil service, preferring instead to Borneanise the state administration. Likewise, he resisted increasing pressures to accept Malay as the sole official language for Sarawak in 1967 so as to harmonise with the timetable established for Peninsular Malaysia. Perhaps even more galling to Kuala Lumpur was his statement that he favoured Iban and Chinese as official languages for Sarawak, along with Malay and English. He also objected to federal funds being given for support of Islam and firmly supported the special position of Sarawak as defined in the Malaysia Agreements and the 20 points of the Inter-Governmental Committe Report.
..While the Malayan Alliance leaders tried to influence the outcome of the Sarawak dispute in 1965, that crisis was settled without decisive intervention by Kuala Lumpur. Such was not to be the case one year later. During the interval, relations between Kuching and Kuala Lumpur had become strained, making the latter more determined to engineer the overthrow of the Ningkan government.

When Tunku Abdul Rahman visited Sarawak in February 1966 he tried to revive the idea of a Native Alliance, this time under the guise of a United Malaysian National Organisation for Sarawak. Behind-the-scenes efforts continued for months in an effort to forge a three-party UMNO type coalition to topple Ningkan's government, but such a union was difficult to construct. Pesaka, while keeping on good terms with Kuala Lumpur, was suspicious of a Malay-native union, hoping instead to create a united native movement by absorbing SNAP or providing the leadership for a Pesaka-SNAP merger. Although a Malay party, PANAS had a strong sense of local loyalty and resented political directives from Kuala Lumpur. Furthermore, since it represented many of the more educated Malays from the Kuching area, its members expected to benefit from Ningkan's program of Borneanising the civil service. Only BARJASA seemed to be enthusiatic supporters of Kuala Lumpur's proposed realignment."
Extracted from Gordon P. Means, Malaysian Politics (1970).

It should be noted that the Secretary-General of BARJASA at the time was one Inche Abdul Taib bin Mahmud.

S'wak is Taib country, even if Anwar rises

Joe Fernandez has written a bleak realpolitik piece in Malaysiakini on the iron grip that Taib Mahmud has over Sarawak. He referred to the statement by Anwar Ibrahim that Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud has overstayed his welcome. Read the full article in Malaysiakini here.

Fernandez wrote: The fact that this call didn’t come from people that matter in Sarawak is a big political mistake and Taib’s inner circle led by his predecessor and uncle Abdul Rahman, if not the man himself, must be laughing their heads off. However for how long is anybody’s guess. Rahman was once fond of privately telling opponents especially Malay and Dayak rebels, to deter and lure them into his clutches, that his family has enough wealth to last seven generations without working and would equal and exceed the Gandhi dynasty in India in their grip of Sarawakian politics.

Besides, the Taib family has any number of political lobbyists in Kuala Lumpur to not only 'keep an eye' on the federal government but 'keep them in check'. This is like the proverbial tail wagging the dog.Taib is not the only person to cling tightly to public office, but he shows crucial differences.He became chief minister in 1981 at about the same time as Mahathir became prime minister and had him “demoted” to the post of federal territory minister in the federal cabinet. Mahathir left after 22 years even if his detractors believed he would die in office. He continues to snipe at his successors.

Anwar ratcheted up the stakes by pledging that all government and government-initiated development projects in the state would be either reviewed, scrapped or audited once he wrests the reins of power in Putrajaya come Sept 16, Malaysia Day, no less a revolution of sorts in slow motion towards much needed reformation. This evolution in thinking does away with questions over the morality, or otherwise, of political defections across party and government lines.

Anwar is not after Taib’s head for no reason although there are suspicions that he wants to force the latter to ditch his traditional support prematurely for whoever is in Kuala Lumpur and make peace with him on reasonable terms. Taib is an eternal survivor in politics and can be expected to do this in his own time. The others around him are waiting dutifully like robots for a cue from him. He has all of them picking from his hand. If Taib tells them to go or follow him, they will.

The infamous Sarawak parochialism is also at work here as they juggle to “keep the devils in Kuala Lumpur “ at bay from their beloved state of reluctant participants in the federation. Never has a state been so completely insulated from the rest of the nation.

Meanwhile, this is like a chicken-and-egg situation. Does Anwar get Taib’s support first and then become prime minister or does he become prime minister first and then get Taib’s support? The latter course might be fraught with all sorts of uncertain risks for Taib especially as he faces state elections as early as next year.

The Iban

Fernandez added: To be sure there are serious issues in the Sarawak of the once feared and famous Dayak tribes, camouflaged by the close links between the powers-that-be and the mainstream media, the virtual absence of the alternative media and low literacy rates, especially among the legendary head-hunting Iban who form the biggest grouping in the state.

The Iban have this childlike notion planted in their heads that “the government is our father and mother who takes care of us” and voting for the opposition, an unthinkable idea, is like going against our father and mother. Although the Dayaks, the Iban included, form the majority community in the state, they remain at the bottom of the heap, reduced to being drawers of water and hewers of wood for others, lacking any direction as a community. Surely, these are the original “lost tribes” rooted in inertia.

Melanau duality
Fernandez wrote further: Ironically, all four chief ministers since independence on Aug 31 1963 have been Dayaks. Stephen Kalong Ningkan the first, was followed by Penghulu Tawi Sli, Abdul Rahman Yaakub and incumbent and nephew Taib. Both Rahman and Taib come from the small Melanau Dayak community in Mukah who number less a little over 100,000 i.e. Muslims, Christians and Pagans included.

The Melanau, especially the Muslims, are often accused of having a foot in both the Malay and Dayak communities in much the same way as the Indian Muslims.

The other Dayak communities are the Bidayuh in the Kuching and Serian Divisions and the Orang Ulu – Kayan, Kenyah, Kelabit – followed by the Lun Bawang, Penan, Punan and Kedayan in the Miri and nearby Divisions.

Taib’s stranglehold on power is hardly the result of the voters backing him but more by default since the Opposition in the state has never been united and organized as they are elsewhere in Malaysia. In the absence of the alternative media, the Dayaks can even be persuaded by the powers-that-be to remain ever loyal against their own interests.

Will the political tsunami hit Sarawak?

Most observers point to the Dayak disarray as the key to Taib and BN's hold on power. The other is the innate reticence of Sarawakians toward any Semenanjung leadership. Whether Anwar and Pakatan can overcome these 2 major factors remains to be seen.

From Permatang Pauh to Sarawak?

Malaysiakini featured a report that Anwar Ibrahim, who has promised to take control of Parliament and form a new government by Sept 16, has called for change in Sarawak, saying the East Malaysian state has been dominated by one man - chief minister Taib Mahmud - for too long.

"There must be change, nobody should stay too long and control everything," he told Malaysiakini when met at the sidelines of his campaign for the Permatang Pauh by-election.

"You cannot afford to have a gap that is too wide between the rich and poor," he added.

The opposition holds only 9 seats in the Sarawak State Assembly, while BN has 62.

But according to Anwar, rumblings of discontent are growing louder and the time is now ripe to make headway there with his reformation agenda of bringing change to the existing political, judiciary and socio-economic systems.

Read the full Malaysiakini report here.

_________________________________

Anwar has clearly begun to look beyond Permatang Pauh towards a broader agenda that, he hopes, will tap into a rich seam of discontentment in Sarawak. Pakatan Rakyat is obviously hopeful that Sarawak will be able to contribute to the number of crossover MPs.

Whether Anwar can parlay the simmering discontent in Sarawak into a groundswell of crossovers is a matter that all Malaysians are watching with increasing excitement.

In Pakatan's endeavours to engineer the crossovers, they are assisted in no small measure by the seeming inability or outright refusal by the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, to institute genuine reforms to make the police force more accountable; make the process of judicial appointments more transparent and meritocratic; and, manage the increasingly negative economic sentiments in Malaysia.

Dayak leadership stands up for NCR

Finally! Is James Masing of Parti Rakyat Sarawak finally acquiring a spine on the urgent matter of NCR land? The latest report by Tony Thien in MALAYSIAKINI shows a still tentative and hesitant James Masing saying, "We like the government to consider (a review of the policy on NCR land) because our party is rural-based so land will be an issue."

-

Malaysiakini further reports what Tony learnt that Dayak members have spoken of their growing concern about threats to the future status of NCR lands, especially with the opening up of more lands for commercial oil palm plantations and, tree planting and harvesting schemes throughout Sarawak. There has been increasing conflicts between oil palm and timber companies and NCR land-owners comprising mostly Dayaks such as Iban, Orang Ulu and Bidayuh communities. There are now nearly 200 litigation cases by NCR land-owners pertaining to lands claims and damages to crops.

-

I have written about NCR land issues on several occasions. The issues facing the Dayaks are serious and the race is now on between BN and Pakatan to woo the Dayak voters in the Sarawak State elections that is looming within the next 24 months.

-

The question in the minds of most analysts is whether CM Taib will keep James Masing and PRS on a tight leash on the issue of NCR land. If Masing and PRS cannot articulate a clear policy on NCR land to the satisfaction of the Dayak electorate, then BN Sarawak may stand to lose many seats. Pakatan will, no doubt, be assembling a coherent NCR land policy package.

Sarawak: Dam it!

It had to happen sooner or later. As reported in Malaysiakini (see http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84715) the "dam" of deceit has burst open. Sarawak's marginalised Dayaks have been crying out for so long and yet, their cries fall on deaf ears. The so-called Dayak leaders must search their souls and their conscience at the plight of their Dayak constituents.

-

For that matter, the non-Dayak leaders have to start asking hard and difficult questions about the method in which so-called development is being brought into the State. WHO does such projects benefit? It almost always affects the NCR land that have never been officially surveyed.

-

And, why is there NEVER any consultation?

-

The answers are obvious. Years of incumbency breeds an incestuous in-breeding between BN Sarawak leaders regardless of political parties. This incestuous in-breeding extends to elite and well-connected businessmen. Charles Lindblom calls such a grouping a polyarchy. But by whatever name it is called, it is no good.

-

The fear of bai moh (the White-haired One) is very palpable in Sarawak. But the Sarawak voters must take heart from GE2008 when the "gods" and "emperors" of BN were exposed. Just as Dorothy discovered that the Wizard of OZ was a mere midget with a lot of bells and whistles special effects, the Sarawak voters must know now that all it takes is to mark an "X" in the right place when the time comes.

-

Only then can the accountability and audit and reform start. Or, maybe it will start sooner. Who knows?

Sarawak Land Reform - The Historical Context

In his seminal book Malaysian Politics (2nd Edition 1976), Gordon P. Means wrote on the saga of Stephen Kalong Ningkan's attempt to institute land reform in Sarawak:-

-

During 1965 a political crisis developed within the Sarawak Alliance over land reform proposed by the Chief Minister, Stephen Kalong Ningkan of SNAP. While the legislation had been under consideration for almost three years the decision to implement the proposals came as a surprise to those who hoped they would be forgotten. The basic question was whether the system of native land rights should be amended to allow greater land use by the immigrant communities. Under previous laws the Chinese could only own land in very limited areas designated as "Mixed Zones", while Malays and natives own land in "Native Areas". In addition, the interior tribal natives had customary rights over "Native Customary Land". Chief Minister Ningkan's land reform bills would have changed these laws by giving the interior natives right to acquire full title to "Native Customary Land", including the right to sell their land to whomever they wished. Consequently, the proposed reforms were advantageous to interior tribal natives who would gain title to large tracts of potentially valuable jungle land (emphasis added).

-

Means went on to describe the following:-

-

When Ningkan got wind of the efforts being made by BARJASA Secretary-General Inche Taib Mahmud to undermine his government from within, he dismissed Inche Taib from the Sarawak Cabinet. This action precipitated a crisis between the pro-Ningkan forces and the pro-Kuala Lumpur forces. From the point of view of the Federal Government, the test of strength came prematurely, for only BARJASA and Pesaka joined the revolt, while Ningkan retained the support of his own party (SNAP) along with PANAS and the SCA. The next day an entourage of BARJASA and Pesaka officials flew to Kuala Lumpur, and later produced a letter which expressed "no confidence" in Ningkan. On the basis of this letter, signed by 21 members of the Council Negri, Tunku Abdul Rahman demanded that Ningkan resign. Ningkan refused to do so since the opposition parties had no desire to bring down his government on this issue (i.e. the issue of land reform in Sarawak), and thus with their votes he was confident of gaining 21 of the 42 votes in the Council Negri, plus the Speaker's casting vote. Consequently, BARJASA and Pesaka boycotted the Council Negri sessions, preferring instead to invite direct federal intervention.

-

The rest, as they say, is history. Ningkan was sacked and the attempt at land reform was buried.

-

The key document that we should re-visit is the Report of the Land Committee, 1962 (Kuching, Sarawak; Government Printer, 1963) published by the Government of Sarawak.