Sarawak’s Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) is prevented “by the law” from revealing the identity of the individual who is to succeed Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Wanita PBB secretary Nancy Shukri, also Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of law, said the Sarawak constitution stipulates the need for the state governor to first consent to the candidate.

"We are not trying to keep it secret but legal processes need to be adhered to. We know he (Abdul Taib) has somebody in mind but we cannot mention it," she told reporters today.

Sarawak BN has announced that Abdul Taib, the country's longest-serving CM, is looking to step down by month's end. He is due to have an audience with the governor on Saturday.

Nancy said that PBB’s constitution also dictates that the party come to a consensus over the successor, but in the meeting last weekend, the party as well as Sarawak BN agreed to leave the matter to Abdul Taib.

Asked of PBB's future under a new leader, Nancy said she is confident that everything will be in order as “we have been preparing and are trained” to work together regardless of race and religion.

PBB was also reported to have said that it will nominate Abdul Taib, 77, to take over as state governor but this has raised objections from critics following ongoing corruption investigations against him.

Individuals, not gov't corrupt

Meanwhile, responding to a separate matter, Nancy stressed that incidences of corruption within the government is caused by individuals and not the government as a whole.

“People always say the government is corrupt but corruption is the individual, not the government,” she said.

She said this while congratulating Agriculture Minister Ismail Sabri ( left ) for his “fantastic” move of  inviting Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers to be based in his ministry undercover, to weed out graft.

“If the government is corrupt, it would not dare to do this,” she said.

Asked if she will follow suit in departments under her purview, Nancy said that such acts are required in departments which are more “service oriented”.

“I will have to see if there is a need for that...I don't have too many frontliners,” she said.

Meanwhile, on the case of a former Umno political aide who was arrested for corruption but has yet to be charged, Nancy said this is because the Attorney-General's Chambers does not want to rush matters.

“There is no way to avoid taking action on anybody. We are not avoiding it, but to take anybody to court requires all documentations to be in place.

“This is why if people rush for action then the deputy public prosecutors will have to rush without having enough information. We are doing the job,” she said.