Deputy Tourism Minister Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib's decision to quit the post has nothing to do with politics, contrary to earlier speculations, said his father, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

laila taib mahmud sulaiman taib 290409 He said Sulaiman's ( centre ) wish to leave the federal administration was more of a personal nature as the latter was still affected by the death of his mother, Laila Taib ( far right ), who succumbed to lung cancer on April 29.

"He was not feeling very well about six months ago so I said, well, you are the best judge for that," he told reporters after launching the Sarawak Federation of Malay Economic Bodies (Gabem) in Kuching.

Like the rest of his family members, Taib said, Sulaiman, who replaced him as the Kota Samarahan parliamentarian after winning the seat in the 2008 general election, was "not very happy and a bit upset about his mother's recent demise".

However Taib, who is also Sarawak BN chairman, did not disclose whether he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Najib Razak, who confirmed that he had received Sulaiman's resignation letter.

No riff in Tourism Ministry

Sulaiman, a Parti Pesaka Bumiputera bersatu (PBB) Youth vice-president, was appointed to the post in the administration of then-prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and was retained by Najib in April.

Amid speculations surrounding his resignation, Tourism Minister Dr Ng Yen Yen was quoted as denying that she could not see eye-to-eye with her deputy and maintaining that their relationship had been good in the seven months that they had been in the ministry.

There are also talks that Sulaiman is being brought back to the state so that he could run for a state seat in the upcoming Sarawak state election, putting him in a position to succeed his father as chief minister.

Earlier, Taib welcomed the move by Japanese silicon maker Tokuyama Corporation to invest RM12.5 billion to produce solar cell components at the Samalaju Industrial Park in Sarawak.

It showed that Tokuyama had made up its mind to go all out, he said when commenting on Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announcement's yesterday that the plant, which will produce polycrystalline silicon for solar cells, is expected to commence operations in 2011.

Muhyiddin, who is on an investment mission to Japan from Dec 7 to 10, had said that the investment by Tokuyama was approved last year and the Sarawak government had identified a location for the project.

- Bernama