Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud will vacate his Balingian state legislative assembly seat on Friday, thus resigning as chief minister after more than three decades.

According to Berita Harian , the vacation notice has been submitted to the legislative assembly Speaker Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar.

Abdul Taib will be succeeded as chief minister by Adenan Satem ( left ), while Taib himself has been nominated by his party PBB to the post of state governor.

Taib's likely appointment as governor received strong objections from the Opposition including PKR Pandan MP MP Rafizi Ramli and Batu Lintang assemblyperson See Chee How, who yesterday attempted to send a memorandum to the Prime Minister's Department on the matter.

The memorandum pertained to allegations of corruption through timber kickbacks against Taib, vis a vis his nomination as Sarawak governor.

However, Rafizi told reporters today that the Prime Minister's Department refused to accept the duo's memorandum.

He said that this is despite the PKR duo already setting an appointment and confirming it the day before.

He said that they had to abandon their plans after being given the runaround for an hour at the Prime Minister's Department, as See had to catch a flight back to Sarawak.

“An officer from the Prime Minister's Department even attempted to interrogate me to ask who had initially made the appointment on their side,”Rafizi ( right ) said at the PKR headquarters in Selangor.

He said that the refusal to accept the memorandum also shows that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has no say over Taib, despite being BN chief.

He added that if an elected representative had problems sending a memorandum to the Prime Minister's Department, what more the rakyat.

 

PBB's grip in Sarawak

Meanwhile Sarawak PKR chief Ahmad Nazib Johari said Taib's impending appointment as governor reflects PBB's grip in Sarawak.

He said that the state constitution says that the governor is appointed on advice from the chief minister.

Although Taib will be recommended by his successor Adenan, the decision to only send Taib's name would have been made while he was still in office.

“Taib will resign as chief minister and be appointed as governor within a few hours. This shows their political chess game,” he said.

Sarawak PKR has also submitted a memorandum on the matter to the Agong, and was informed by palace secretariat that the matter will be discussed at the Rulers' Council today if the Agong deems fit.