Former Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) strongman Salleh Jafaruddin wants to see the special adviser in the Chief Minister's Office, Adenan Satem, succeeding Abdul Taib Mahmud as party president and by extension, the next chief minister of Sarawak.

"There are some current PBB leaders with the potential who may likely be chosen to replace Taib when the time comes... but in terms of having the qualifications required, only Adenan fits the slot, if tradition is going to be followed.

"The rest of the PBB leaders have no legal experience, and neither have they served in the federal cabinet," Salleh, a former PBB vice-president, said today.

Adenan had once served as federal minister of natural resources and environment in the cabinet of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

At state level, the PBB information chief who is the assemblyperson for Tanjung Datu, has served in many ministries.

taib and adenan staem shaking hands 180305 "In spite of all the odds, many political observers feel Adenan ( left, with Taib ) is the most qualified person as he is a lawyer, just like Taib and former party president Rahman Yaakub.

"He graduated from the same university as Taib and has served in the state and federal cabinets," said Salleh, adding that Adenan was also stable and politically matured.

"The only drawback is that Adenan does not have much grassroots support, especially among the Iban members of the party," he said, adding that Adenan was "fairly clean and without extra heavy baggage".

"He is an intellectually motivated leader who cares for the people's welfare and does not harbour grudges against political enemies.

"As a trained lawyer, his political approach is guided by his legal ethics, whereby in court you fight your opponent and outside, you are friends. This should be the most acceptable approach," Salleh said.

'Jabu most likely successor, but he's Christian'

While PBB deputy president (1) Alfred Jabu Numpang should, by right, take over as president and chief minister later, in Salleh's analysis Jabu will not.

bn candidates announcement pbb hq 030411 alfred jabu While his sources within PBB indicated that Jabu ( right ) "is the most likely successor" to Taib, Salleh believes that the majority of party members would not agree to this because while he had the "political criteria", Jabu is not a Muslim and does not come from a majority race.

"However the state constitution does not stipulate that the chief minister of Sarawak should be a Muslim," he added.

On PBB deputy president (2) Abang Johari Abang Openg, Salleh said he was the favourite choice of Kuala Lumpur and at the same time, he too had no extra baggage attached.

"He is basically a ‘Mr Clean' and equally loyal as Jabu. He comes from a reputable family and he represents the Malay aristocratic leadership in the party.

"In term of cunningness, Abang Johari is ‘average', but he has the support of the non-bumiputera partners.

"He has little support from the Melanau assemblypersons in the party because of the traditional ‘ethnic mistrust' between the Malay and Melanau communities since the days of the Rajah Brooke colonial administration.

"The unfair treatment meted out on the Melanau colonial civil servants by the then Malay aristocrats was untenable," Salleh said, adding that the resulting hatred and mistrust remained, even if many current PBB members were not aware of its significance.

"Hence, Abang Johari, including his cousin Abang Abu Bakar Datuk Bandar Mustapha and other PBB leaders having their names "Abang", all Malay aristocrats, face great difficulty in wrestling control of PBB."

The current de facto chief minister

Abang Johari is the state minister of housing and urban development and the minister of tourism and heritage.

According to Salleh, another contender for the chief minister's job is Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, the party's senior vice-president and second minister of planning and resource management.

"As the second minister of planning and resource management, he is the de facto and de jure chief minister of Sarawak, working in close collaboration with Taib's sister Roziah and her Lebanese husband, Robert Geneid.

NONE "Awang Tengah ( right ) is one of the richest ministers in Sarawak. He has been the second minister of planning and resource management for many years.

"Everything being equal, Awang Tengah is the likely "imposed successor" to chief minister in the event the prime minister is willing to accept another corrupt leader to helm the Sarawak government.

"If this prediction is correct, it will mean a traditional departure from the normal choice and give credence to the amendment of Article 35(7) of the PBB constitution, by which Jabu, Abang Johari and Adenan would be by-passed by the PBB supreme council and party caucus," he said.

Under this article, a person need not be president of PBB to be the next chief minister of Sarawak, assuming that PBB has the most number of state seats in the legislative assembly.

Salleh believes that whoever ultimately succeeds as Sarawak chief minister must be able to satisfy the needs of the current situation and should not be far short of the qualities of the incumbent.

These qualities include good religious upbringing, a legally trained mind, honesty, perseverance, patience, being morally just and fair, as well as forgiving and magnanimous.

"The person must also be a good negotiator, observant listener and an elusively convincing speaker and an experienced risk taker.

"These are some of the essence of leadership qualities essentially required from any chosen successor for the Sarawak political throne," Salleh said, admitted that it would be difficult for anyone to emulate Taib and his uncle Rahman as leaders of PBB.

"The two Melanau leaders are a special breed," Salleh, who is also a Melanau, said.