The biggest Sarawak cabinet unveiled by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud on Thursday did not attract much attention from the ordinary man-in-the-street. Even the local print media merely carried it as another lead news item.

If at all there has been public interest, it is out of curiosity in the appointment of Malaysia's youngest elected representative Larry Sng (photo right) as an assistant minister as well as seven new assistant ministers.

Beyond that, it is difficult to get most people excited,.except for opponents of the Sarawak BN and critics of the chief minister.

What Taib has schemed in coming out with such a big cabinet (with a total of 48 ministerial porfolios divided among 29 ministers and assistant ministers out of the 62-member state legislative assembly) has become a subject of much debate, however, among a local group of people, including academicians, BN and opposition politicians and political analysts.

Is this 'mid-term major reshuffle' to bring in fresh people with new approaches to deal with the implementation of the remaining Eighth Malaysia Plan and Ninth Malaysia Plan? Or is this to prepare for Taib's exit after more than four decades in national and state politics?

Nearly everyone agrees that Taib, who has held the state's chief executive post for 23 years, may be about to make his exit from politics, probably by year-end.

He has placed and brought in his strongest and most trust-worthy supporters in important ministerial posts. First, he elevated Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office Awang Tengah Ali Hassan (photo left) to full minister, filling the position vacated by Adenan Satem, who is now federal Natural Resources and Environment Minister.

Second-echelon leaders

Instead of just filling one vacant assistant minister vacated by PBB publicity chief Wahab Dolah, he brought in three other party state assemblypersons who are widely known as his trusted and staunch followers - Daud Abdul Rahman, Fatimah Abdulah, Noroden Majais and Hamden Ahmad.

These are the second-echelon leaders who are expected to move up when the present crop of party leaders in the government call it a day - or are dropped.

Taib has not made it any easier for his party's deputy president Abang Johari Openg, whom he moved out of tourism into housing. "Can he (Abang Jo) easily get federal funding as he did when he was in tourism?," was one question asked.

Although most observers do not see this as a demotion, they compare his ministerial position to his party's treasurer Awang Tengah who is now Second Minister of Planning and Resource Management ( handling land and land approval issues) and Minister of Public Utilities (such as power and water).

Awang Tengah is not only seen as a PBB rising star who has tremendous clout in government with his full ministerial appointment but also a potential chief minister if and when Taib decides to call it a day.

The question of whether the party hierarchy can allow this is clearly addressed by an amendment made several years ago to the PBB constitution providing for the setting up of what is called a parliamentary caucus (comprising elected representatives and senators) which can nominate a candidate for the chief minister's post. Whoever becomes CM automatically takes over as party president at the same time.

In the latest cabinet changes, Taib took over finance from his deputy Dr George Chan and also appointed Supp's Wong Soon Koh as second finance minister in addition to the latter being urban development and tourism minister.

Supp president unhappy

Chan retains industrial development which is responsible for setting up industrial estates and approving applications for industrial sites, apart from promoting domestic and foreign investments. He is also the new minister for Modernisation of Agriculture.

But, according to sources, some tempers flared when Taib first gave an indication of what was to come on the eve of his announcement of the new cabinet line-up. Chan, who is known to very close to Taib, could not contain his emotions when it became obvious to him that he was going to lose finance and public utilities.

Only a week earlier Chan had seen to the passage of a bill in the state legislative assembly that is to pave the way for the privatisation of Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco) through the setting up of a new company that will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of listed state government-controlled Sarawak Enterprise Corporation Bhd.

It is a well-known fact that Chan has very close working relationships with many officers in the public utility companies, and his political supporters are also benefitting from business interests. It must have come as a real shock when told he would no longer handle finance and public utilities.

Taib's press conference on Thursday morning was delayed by about two hours, and when he put in an appearance eventually at 11 am he spent another hour trying to explain to the media the rationale behind the changes to the enlarged cabinet. It is learnt that Taib spent two hours earlier trying to explain his reasoning for the major reshuffle.

The Supp president was also disappointed that the chief minister had not acquiesced to his request for another full minister's post for the party which he wanted for one of his closest aides Alfred Yap, an assistant minister.

Instead, the chief minister appointed Supp's Senadin state assemblyperson Lee Kim Shin an assistant minister, the only post he gave the party.

Chan himself has told some party leaders that he is contemplating stepping down for sometime, and the recent problems which came into the open between him and his party deputy Law Hieng Ding may be been conveniently pushed under the carpet to give some semblance of unity in the party.

Preparing for state polls

According to observers, Taib has read that to mean Chan's support and popularity within his own party is waning, and that the next party president is likely to be Wong Soon Koh, a mild-mannered educationist turned politician and a cousin of former Supp president Dr Wong Soon Kai.

Observers say the latest changes to the state cabinet is also to prepare the state BN for the state elections two years down the road, as there is growing expectation that the opposition may consolidate to take on the BN.

"It is quite clear with nearly half of the state assembly in the cabinet, directly or indirectly, Taib certainly feels more confident of the state BN being returned with a strong mandate.," they said.

"He may not preside over the next state elections but by putting most of his trusted and strongest followers in key posts in the cabinet and enough to make his partners from other parties happy, Taib is now better able to decide on the timing of his exit from politics."

At Thursday's press conference, Taib said he has left two assistant minister posts unfilled, with one to go to PBDS "if and when the party has resolved its leadership problem."

Under the constitution, a maximum of 11 full ministers may be appointed (presently nine are taken) but there is no indication as to the limit on assistant minister posts.

In the new enlarged cabinet, there are, besides the nine full ministers, 20 assistant ministers, many of them are holding more than one posts.

"Taib is a master in the arts of politics. He also wants to show KL that he is very much in control in Sarawak," an analyst said.