Speculation that Sarawak’s most powerful man Tan Sri Taib Mahmud is preparing to call it a day has been swirling in Kuching the last couple of months but most are taking it with a large pinch of salt.
THE man with the silver mane is marking his golden jubilee in politics this year.
It is Tan Sri Taib Mahmud’s 50th year in politics and also his 32nd year as Sarawak Chief Minister.
These are big numbers for Sarawak’s most powerful man. He has outlasted almost everyone and it is unlikely that any other future politician will be able to break his record.
Taib also celebrated his 77th birthday earlier this year and many among the who’s who of Sarawak who attended agreed that he looks amazingly fit for his age. His skin glows, he has a better figure than most people half his age and he has the best arm candy for a man his age.
“He has not looked this good in years and people say it is because of his wife,” said a Kuching corporate figure.
He is rarely seen at events without his young wife Puan Sri Ragad Kurdi Taib. The statuesque beauty is still the centre of attraction wherever she goes. People cannot seem to take their eyes off her. They stare at her milky skin, her striking features, her shapely figure and her jewels.
Ragad is known to keep time, making sure that he does not overstay at night events and gets home at a suitable time so that he can rest. Ragad’s role is strictly that of his wife and companion and the Kuching political circles say that he does not encourage her to play a more direct role as a first lady in the state.
There is less of what some call the “honeymoon body language” now that they have been married almost three years but they still look like a loving couple.
They also go about these days with two cute, young boys who have Ragad’s exotic features. No one dares ask who the children are but they assume that the children are hers. The boys complete the happy family image for Taib and Ragad.
Another reason Taib is looking fit and happy these days may also have to do with politics. The general election result has sort of vindicated him.
The calls for him to retire have subsided but several months after he celebrated his 77th birthday, speculation that he was ready to retire from politics began again.
The speculation intensified when Kuching residents noticed the renovation work taking place at the Astana, the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak along the banks of scenic Sarawak River. Some even claimed they saw his car in the grounds.
The coffeeshop chatter was that Taib must be preparing to take over from Tun Abang Muhammad Salahuddin whose term as Governor expires on Dec 4. Moreover, they thought that Taib would ride on the fact that this is the 50th anniversary of Sarawak independence.
It was a case of people adding two and two and ending up with five.
“I am tired of these stories, I’ve heard it so many times. They talk about it, from the coffeeshop to the corridors of power but it never happens. It does not excite me anymore,” said Unimas senior lecturer Dr Jeniri Amir.
Dr Jeniri wrote an authorised biography of the Governor two years ago and the two spent hours together, chatting over durians and the older man would take him for seafood in Santubong.
According to Dr Jeniri, the Governor and Taib are both Melanau and have a warm and trusting relationship.
It is no secret that the Governor who turned 92 in September wants to call it a day and is staying on only because Taib asked him to.
The Governor is as healthy as anyone could be at his age but he tires easily and can only read short speeches. When he attended the Unimas convocation, they had to ferry him from his car to the stage inside the hall in a jazzed-up golf buggy.
Dr Jeniri’s guess is that the Governor will continue for another term.
It seems like the Governor is ready to make way but the Chief Minister is not ready to take over. Taib, as some like to say, has a plan to retire but only he knows what the plan is.
Taib, said Sibu banker Dr Gregory Hii, will go when he is ready and it is his call especially after the way he delivered the state to the Barisan Nasional. The Barisan won 25 of the 31 parliamentary seats and Taib’s party PBB won every single one of the 14 seats it contested.
Thanks to him, Sarawak is still what Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak terms as his fixed deposit state. In fact, PBB is now the second biggest partner to Umno in the Barisan. No one is going to remind him of his promise that he would go midterm. Even the Prime Minister would not dare ask him to go. He controls a big bloc of seats and he can destablise the Barisan if he so chooses.
Sarawak also has six ministers in the Cabinet, including two women, and that is something for him to crow about.
“He is in full control of PBB. They had a very smooth election,” said Dr Hii.
At the PBB election in October , there was no contest for presidency and the two deputy president posts. It was a testimony of Taib’s clout.
He remains a political issue but, said a Kuching-based restaurateur, even the Chinese who dislike him admit that he dares to stand up to religious and racial extremism. Taib stands tall when it comes to cultural and religious tolerance.
Many Sarawakians are appalled about the way race and religion has been politicised in the peninsula. The antics of groups like Perkasa send shivers through them and they simply do not understand the fuss over the kalimah Allah issue and they do not want such groups or ideas in Sarawak.
“Some of us were joking that he’s like the Great Wall of Sarawak against extremism,” said the restaurateur.
Sarawakians are quite leery of Umno, they do not want Sarawak to go the way of Sabah because they believe that Sabah was like Sarawak until Umno arrived in Sabah.
“His strongman political style has worked for him. He speaks his mind, he fears no one,” said Dr Jeniri.
But people are still fed up. The Internet is full of stories, whether true or false, about his family, their fabulous wealth and their lavish lifestyles. Sarawakians want to see a genuine transition that involves a change in the conduct of the business of government.
Dr Jeniri is a leading authority on Sarawak politics and his reading is that Taib is such a master politician that he would want to time his political exit with the state election. It would be a trump card of sorts for the ruling coalition.
Speculation over who would take over from him used to swing wildly from one candidate to another. Some of the candidates have dropped out of the political scene, others have grown grey waiting for it to happen.
But the consensus seems to be on PBB deputy president and Housing and Tourism Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg with the younger Environment Minister Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hassan as the deputy.
Abang Johari, who has a good image, has performed and delivered in all his portfolios. But more than that, he is one of the few ministers without political baggage. He is also not linked to any scandal. He has a moderate lifestyle, and friends say that he has not changed much from the day he entered politics in 1981.
Even the Chinese, who are now a political factor in Sarawak politics, like Abang Jo, as he is known.
But said a Sarawak journalist: “What the Chinese think does not matter much anymore. They gave all their votes to DAP and PKR and they still could not dislodge Taib.”
The Chinese thought they were voting out Taib, instead they voted themselves out of the government.
“BN may lose a few more state seats in the next state election but it will still be in power with or without Taib. People are resigned to that,” said the above journalist.
Taib is not an easy man to work with and he will not be any easier to handle after he retires. Whoever takes over from him will have to learn to handle him the way Najib has tackled the two ex-Prime Ministers before him.
Taib will be 80 by the next state election and he has privately remarked to associates that he cannot see himself taking the oath as Chief Minister at age 80.
At his last birthday banquet, guests were given commemorative plates bearing his smiling face. All his children, except for his eldest son Datuk Suleiman, were by his side.
“Each time I celebrate my birthday, it is a time to count my blessings because all the challenges that came my way have strengthened me. It is when things settled down that I realised I got help from God and good friends,” he had said in his birthday speech.
It was his understated admission of the storms he passed through the last few years.
At the banquet, Taib was reminiscent of an old world gentleman in his cream-coloured tuxedo topped with a yellow bow tie. But all else paled beside Ragad. She was the showstopper in a crimson ballgown, red lips and ruby-encrusted princess necklace.
They may be in their last stretch as Sarawak’s first couple. But they will bring their glamour and style with them to the Astana should Taib decide to go from Chief Minister to Governor of Sarawak.
> Joceline Tan can be reached at joceline@thestar.com.my
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