COMMENT It must have been one of the more intricate and delicate understandings worked out between an incumbent prime minister, with an eye on the next general election, and a state chief seen as a liability that is hard to get rid of.

With polls in Sarawak due anytime soon, PM Najib Razak managed to work out with Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud what can be viewed as the best modus operandi under the circumstances.

Reading the entrails from the smokescreen of mushy statements that issued from both the PM and Taib in the Bidayuh enclave of Serian, outside Kuching, this morning, one can conclude that the bargain reached between them is hedged with ambiguity.