Leo Moggie anak Irok maintains a low profile even though he heads the important and very visible Energy, Communications and Multimedia Ministry. Most, if not all, of his public appearances are in the name of officialdom. Moggie is not a much a sought-after minister by the press and neither does he seek much media attention.

But beneath that seemingly ordinary, reserved and even dull character, Moggie quietly exudes high intelligence and political brilliance. For the record, he is the longest serving federal minister from Sarawak. Moggie is now in his 24th year in the Federal Cabinet.

Last month, Moggie announced his intention to step down as president of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak, the party he founded in 1983 and headed ever since. Last Sunday, he made it official by informing the party's supreme council of his decision.

Moggie must have a good reason for making known his retirement plans early. The PBDS elections are only due in August 2003, some 18 months away.

And he has. He said he was making known his intention early in order to allow party members to digest the news.

Moggie also made it clear that his decision was final and that party members should start to prepare a new leader.

Longest-serving Iban minister

Indeed, the PBDS chief has made a wise decision befitting his stature, position and intellect. With his wealth of experience in politics, Moggie knows what he is doing. He is not known to make rash decisions.

While it is true that the PBDS boss is facing pressure from certain party elements to quit immediately, he is not likely to bow down.

Moggie is a political survivor who is able to set his own time and space to bow out and with grace and dignity. Just don't expect him to quit just because a few party people say so. Moggie has been through tougher times and has fought stronger opponents. He survived them all.

Moggie is also the longest-serving Iban federal minister and possibly, the second best known Iban minister in Kuala Lumpur. I would say that the first is Temenggong Jugah anak Barieng, the Minister for Sarawak Affairs, in Malaysia's first post-Merdeka Cabinet.

Of course, there are also other Dayaks serving in the Federal Cabinet as deputy ministers or parliamentary secretaries. But none rose to the stature of Jugah or Moggie. Years down the road, Malaysian history will possibly only find these two Iban ministers worthy of mention. To any Malaysian who knows anything at all about their political leaders, the names Jugah and Moggie are somehow synonymous with Sarawak.

Meteoric rise

Moggie joined the Federal Cabinet as the country's first Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and Posts in 1978. He was appointed to the post by the nation's third Prime Minister, Tun Hussein Onn. At that time, he was the secretary-general of the opposition Sarawak National Party (Snap).

Moggie was plucked from the Sarawak civil service and made his electoral debut in the 1974 state election.

He easily won Machan in his hometown of Kanowit on a Snap ticket.

When Snap joined the Sarawak coalition government in 1976, Moggie was appointed to the State Cabinet as minister for local government. His rise up the political ladder, from then on, was meteoric.

Moggie was soon considered the Iban leader to watch in the late1970s. He was one of the few Iban intellectuals who ventured into politics at that time. The other prominent Iban was Leonard Linggi Jugah, son of Temenggong Jugah. But Linggi took a back seat from politics and concentrated on business after his electoral defeat in Kapit. Moggie then became the lone Iban political star.

Many politicians endowed with a meteoric rise, either fall as fast as they rise or continue to wield more influence and power till thy kingdom come.

For Moggie, none of the above is true. Neither did he have a rosy political career. Moggie's career spanning almost three decades could be described as chequered, unique and even amazing, all rolled into one.

A nobody in Snap

At a time when people expected Moggie to fall, he didn't. He survived.

In 1981, after being defeated in a bitter tussle for the Snap presidency by James Wong Kim Min, Moggie's career was said to be in limbo.

For almost two years, Moggie was a nobody in Snap. Yet he was still a federal minister. Now, isn't that amazing? A lesser man would have been sent to the dustbins of public life.

Moggie wisely kept mum and his cool and did not succumb to pressures from his detractors requesting that he step down as minister. Credit is due to Moggie for such political astuteness.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad who had just succeeded Hussein Onn as prime minister in 1981 retained Moggie in his Cabinet. The new premier said then that Moggie was an able administrator and that he was a worthy representative of the Sarawak Dayaks in Kuala Lumpur.

In 1983, the inevitable happened. PBDS was born with Moggie as its president.

I remember that afternoon in 1983 when Moggie returned in triumph to Kuching with the registration certificate of PBDS to announce the birth of the party. The historic event for the party was held at the official residence of Daniel Tajem (who was then a deputy chief minister) in Jalan Rodway in Kuching.

Moggie, surrounded by party stalwarts including Tajem, Sandah, Edwin Tangkun and the late Joseph Mamat Samuel, declared that the Dayaks needed a political vehicle and PBDS was the answer. The rest is history.

Snap's attempt to block the admission of PBDS into the BN was unsuccessful. Moggie continued as a federal minister and Tajem, now deputy president of PBDS, was retained as deputy chief minister in what was then known as a BN Plus government in Sarawak.

Ming Court revolt

An incident in 1987 again proved Moggie's resilience in the intrigues of Malaysian politics.

The infamous Ming Court revolt against Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud that year saw PBDS as a major player.

When the revolt failed, all the senior PBDS leaders were 'wiped out' and took refuge in the political wilderness. Tajem was a major 'casualty'.

But Moggie, the PBDS president, survived yet again.

In the aftermath of the Ming Court revolt, the BN granted PBDS a unique membership. The party was a BN member at federal level but was in opposition at state level. Leo Moggie, the political survivor, remained a federal minister.

In 1991, PBDS launched the ambitious but miscalculated KMS (Ketua Menteri Sarawak) project to oust Taib and take over the Sarawak government after the state polls that year. It was a do or die battle for PBDS and Dayakism was adopted as their war cry

Many had expected Moggie to resign as federal minister that year to lead PBDS in the KMS project. But he did not and, not surprisingly, PBDS fared miserably in the elections that year. It only managed to win seven out of the 56 seats at stake.

Immediately after the polls, Moggie and PBDS swallowed their pride and applied to rejoin the Sarawak BN. However, Taib Mahmud kept PBDS out in the cold for another three years before finally accepting it into the Sarawak BN fold in 1994.

It has been 19 years since PBDS was founded. The party has certainly gone through a lot with its share of trials and tribulations, its glorious and bitter moments.

History will judge whether the party has been effective or not in serving the interests of the Dayak communities in Sarawak.

Tough act to follow

Meantime, one thing seems certain, though. Whoever takes over as the next PBDS president will find Moggie a tough act to follow.

That is probably why the PBDS president is giving his members time to prepare a new leader.

Another calculated move from a wise leader who has been through it all as a political survivor. It could well be Moggie's best ever.

After so many years in politics and being at the top, I don't think there is anything else for Moggie to prove. He should feel satisfied and content, too.

Meanwhile, I've learnt that the Irok family in Kanowit is preparing a retirement homecoming ceremony for their famous son well in advance. Come that day, Leo Moggie can truly retire in peace and quiet and of course, maintain his low profile for good.

Before that, perhaps he could teach his successor in PBDS a thing or two about his unique political survival skills. Those skills are truly Moggie's.