West Malaysians now know the reason behind Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s decision to appoint Adenan Satem as chief minister of Sarawak, said Salleh Said Keruak.

Prior to that, the multimedia and communications minister said, most Malaysians were in the dark about Adenan since the latter maintained a simple life and a low-profile image during his entire political career.

Citing Adenan’s various accomplishments, Salleh noted how many believe that Najib could not have made a better choice.

“It is apparent that Najib is giving Adenan full backing and is supporting the chief minister in all his endeavours.

“Adenan is the sounding board for Sarawakians and the most important thing is that the prime minister is listening,” he said in a blog post.

This, he added, provided Sarawak voters with the confidence that Najib and Adenan make a good team.

“One in federal and the other in the state, and BN will be able to deliver what Sarawakians want,” he added.

Salleh said Adenan has been in office for close to 800 days and even the opposition grudgingly admits that he has done a good job.

“You can see from the Sarawak election campaign that the opposition has nothing much to criticise Adenan about,” he pointed out.

Since taking over as chief minister in February 2014, Adenan had introduced numerous policies considered important to Sarawakians.

Most notably amongst them is the ‘Anak Sarawak’ policy that declares equality for all Sarawakians as well as the recognition of Chinese schools and its United Examination Certificate for Sarawak Foundation education loans and entry into the civil service.

And Sarawak, said Salleh, no longer issues any timber and plantation licences while half occupation ticket licences have been cancelled or are not being renewed.

“This is how serious Adenan is about forest conservation,” he said.

“Sarawakians are by and large very happy with these reforms and most are of the opinion that BN should be given another five years to see what more Adenan could do for Sarawak and for Sarawakians,” he added.

Sarawak is set to witness its 11th state election this Saturday, and political pundits are predicting a bigger victory for BN than the previous polls.

Even DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang conceded Adenan would remain as chief minister for another five years, and that the opposition would be hard pressed to deny BN a two-third majority.