Abdul Rahman Yakub who passed away last night at the age of 87 was one of Sarawak’s most colourful politicians who had contributed much to Sarawak and Malaysian politics and education.

 

Born in Kampung Jepak, Bintulu, on January 3, 1928, Rahman’s first taste of education was at Sekolah Anchi in Miri, and later transferred to St. Joseph School, Miri until his studies were interrupted by the Japanese invasion.

 

After the war, he worked for a short while, before leaving for the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom to read law. Upon graduation, he worked in the Sarawak legal department.

 

Rahman’s quality as a leader and orator was noted by first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who introduced him to politics at the time when Sarawak formed the federation of Malaysia together with Malaya, Sabah, and Singapore.

 

His first ministerial post was as deputy minister of land and mines, and later as minister of education.

 

As education minister, Rahman ( right in photo ) was responsible for changing the medium of instruction for all schools and higher learning institutions from English to Malay language.

 

He was also credited with the creation of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), as well responsible for abolishing the primary six common entrance examinations so that all students could continue their secondary education.

 

He returned to Sarawak to contest the 1970 parliamentary and state elections. After winning the Kuala Rajang state seat, he became Sarawak’s third chief minister on July 7, 1970.

 

It was during the period when Sarawak was politically unstable due to the communist insurgency and the undeclared war, known as ‘confrontation’, with Indonesia over the formation of Malaysia.

 

On March 26, 1981, he resigned as chief minister to take over as Sarawak governor. He held that office from April 2, 1981 until April 2, 1985, when his nephew Abdul Taib Mahmud ( left in photo above ) took over the post.

 

Rahman’s political achievements

 

As chief minister, he was responsible in bringing 482 communist elements led by Bong Kee Chok to give up armed struggle through the ‘Sri Aman operation’ in 1974.

 

The surrender ended more than 20 years of communist insurgency in the state.

 

His other notable success was also to bring back Ahmad Zaidi Adruce from Indonesian West Kalimantan.

 

Ahmad Zaidi was a guerilla member of the Tentera Kalimantan Utara (TNKU) which worked closely with the Sarawak Communist Organsiation (SCO) to fight Malaysian security forces.

 

Ahmad Zaidi and Bong Kee Chok were against Sarawak from becoming ‘colonised’ by Malaya. Ahmad Zaidi was pardoned for his actions and later became Sarawak’s sixth governor.

 

On the political front, older Sarawakians still remember how Rahman brought down the first Sarawak government of chief minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan in June 1966 with the assistance of some Dayak elected representatives.

 

When Ningkan refused to resign, the governor sacked him, which led to a constitutional crisis and the declaration of state of emergency in Sarawak. Penghulu Tawi Sli was then appointed as the second chief minister.

 

At that time, Rahman was the deputy federal minister of land and mines.

 

After the 1970 state elections, none of the four major political parties – Sarawak National Party (SNAP), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak (Pesaka), and Parti Bumiputera Sarawak, obtained a clear majority in the 48-seat assembly.

 

SNAP, SUPP and Parti Bumiputera each won 12 seats, while Pesaka had eight seats to its credit.

 

Three seats went to Sarawak Chinese Association and another seat was won by an independent candidate.

 

Building a new coalition

 

However, through his skill and clever maneuverings, Rahman was able to convince SUPP to join forces with Parti Bumiputera to form the first Sarawak coalition government.

 

But there was a clear absence of Ibans representing their community, and without them, the coalition government would not be stable.

 

It was said that Rahman then sent two of his ‘errand boys’ to literally kidnap two state assemblypersons – Penghulu Abok anak Jalin and Simon Dimbab Maja – from Parti Pesaka, and he sworn them in as cabinet ministers.

 

Pesaka, forced to join the coalition later because of the incident, eventually merged with Parti Bumiputera to form Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) in January 1973.

 

To this day, PBB remains the backbone of the state government.

 

As governor of Sarawak, Rahman was said to have a very serious quarrel with his nephew, then chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, over timber concessions which Rahman had allegedly awarded to his daughters and his cronies.

 

It was reported that Taib cancelled some 30 timber licences worth RM22.5 billion, which angered Rahman.

 

In return, Rahman was said to have accused Taib of awarding 1.6 million hectares of forests to his own family members and cronies.

 

Rahman sued Taib for the cancellation of the timber licences.

 

The quarrel became more serious when Taib refused to renew Rahman’s second term as the governor of Sarawak when it expired on April 2, 1985.

 

Moving in on nephew Taib Mahmud

 

Following this dramatic end to his governorship, Rahman initiated a move to topple Taib through the formation of Persatuan Rakyat Malaysia Sarawak (Permas).

 

Permas joined forces with Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak and some disgruntled members of SNAP, SUPP and PBB, to form the ‘Maju group’.

 

A total of 28 leaders and elected representatives supported Rahman and demanded that Taib resign immediately and ‘honourably’, failing which a vote of no confidence would be taken against him.

 

The ultimatum letter was faxed to Taib with copies to then prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the governor of Sarawak Ahmad Zaidi Adruce.

 

Upon receiving the letter, Taib went to see the prime minister and told him that he would call for a snap election.

 

On March 13, 1987, Taib announced that the state assembly was dissolved with immediate effect.

 

Nomination had been fixed for April 6, 1987, and election was to be held on April 15 and 16. However, the ‘Maju group’ failed to topple Taib as the group managed to win only 20 seats against the Taib team which won 28 seats.

 

Weeks later, several ‘Maju group’ elected representatives crossed over, further strengthening Taib’s grip on the state government.

 

Rahman retired and while the relationship between uncle and nephew was reported to be strained then, it was said to have returned to normal recently.

 

(Note: Most of the facts above are obtained from The Broken Shield – The birth of Dayakism , written by Joseph Tawie).