COMMENT It was supposed to be a rite of revelation, but the ritual turned out to be more like orchestration than disclosure over two expectant days in Kuching the past weekend.

Nearing 33 years as Chief Minister of Sarawak, Abdul Taib Mahmud was going through the motions of a valediction.

For much of the lead-up to the weekend’s brace of meetings involving the movers and shakers in Sarawak politics, it was bruited about that the CM was, at last, going to announce he is retiring from the post.

But the grapevine also said that Taib was not going to move out of the range of collateral influence, duly to be exercised from the governor’s mansion whose present occupant is rather conveniently set to retire at the end of the month.

As matters eventuated, the CM did announce that indeed his retirement was imminent, but did so only after he had steered his party, PBB, mainstay of the state BN, to unanimously back the proposal that he become the state’s next governor.

That was not the whole of the blank cheque his associates were keen to underwrite at Saturday’s meeting of PBB; the party faithful hastened to assure Taib of their unstinting support for his - as yet unannounced - choice as CM.

The next day in a meeting with another set of choristers, the state BN, Taib said his resignation as CM was going to take place in a matter of days; after which his listeners lavished praise on a host of his virtues, the most worthy being his astute defence of state rights.

In his winding-up speech, the conductor of the two-day symphony left the audience in no doubt as to the operative meaning of ‘defence of state rights’, its code for keeping Umno out.

For good measure, two of the three probables to be replace Taib as CM, as soon as the second meeting on Sunday was over, piped up about how they would back anyone Taib chooses.     

 

That completed the assembly of all strands of the scripted play bar one - the actual name of the person to replace Taib as CM.

 

This was tantalisingly kept veiled in Taib’s breast pocket, with the master of the pre-packaged surprise saying that he would make the disclosure in a few days’ time, after consultation with the incumbent governor who is to retire at the end of the month.

At this stage of the evolving scenario, it is useful to remember that of the three mentioned probables for the CM’s soon-to-be-vacant position, two were publicly quoted on their willingness to support whoever the retiring incumbent chooses. They duo was Abang Johari Openg and Awang Tengah Hassan.

The third probable, Adenan Satem, did not provide a similar signal of willingness to go along with whoever Taib chooses.

Someone who can draw the line

His restraint can be interpreted in two ways: one, Adnan is not required to play to the script; the other is that he is confident he will be the choice and so is content to let the other two declare their predispositions so that, in the event he is chosen and other two backtrack on their support, they can be tripped up for insincerity.

The strong current of ‘Sarawak for Sarawakians’ which underlay the two political meetings over the weekend in Kuching could only mean that the next CM of Sarawak would be someone who can draw the line beyond which Putrajaya’s writ will not be allowed to run.

That would rule out Abang Johari Openg who is the most favoured by Umno for the post.

Abang Johari has been a long-time Umno favourite for the post but is seen to fall short on two of the three requisites for the post.

The three are command and control ability over a potential fractious state BN, adequate competence at ministerial-portfolio execution, and acceptability to Sarawak’s dizzying ethnic mélange.

Abang Johari is high on acceptability but is seriously short on ability at state-BN command and control and at portfolio execution.   

Putrajaya was seen to try an eleventh hour heading-off of Taib’s decision to commend Adenan to the governor as his replacement when a high level contingent of federal police officers that included the Special Branch director arrived in Kuching this morning to brief Taib on the overall national security situation.

Could it be that Putrajaya was trying to head off Taib’s disinclination towards Abang Johari by attempting to paint a grim picture of the national security situation so as to impress upon the CM the need to abide by the federals’ preference?

Lest speculative fevers run riot, one must be content to leave the resident potentate of Petrajaya, the residential hub of Sarawak’s movers and shakers and the administrative nerve centre of the state, to tackle what is his final and crucial challenge: the choice of his replacement as CM.

TERENCE NETTO has been a journalist for four decades now. He likes the profession because it puts him in contact with the eminent without being under the necessity to admire them.