Taib to set quit deadline?
Malaysiakini.com
Dec 26, 2006
Tony Thien

Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, Malaysia's longest-serving state chief executive, may unravel plans for stepping down from the post at his Parti Pesaka Bumiputera (PBB) convention in February 2007 in Miri, Sarawak.

Taib took over as Chief Minister in March 1981 from his uncle Abdul Rahman Yakub in March 1981 and has remained at the helm since without any break.

A party official confirmed to malaysiakini today that the party convention, postponed initially for a year from July 2005 and then further postponed to February next year, will now take place from Feb 9 to 12, 2007 in Miri.

The Prime Minister and federal Barisan Nasional chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been invited to officiate at the opening of the convention on Feb 9.

The party's supreme council meeting recently affirmed Taib's decision to keep all top party posts from president down to two deputy presidents, two senior vice presidents and seven vice presidents uncontested, except for some vacant posts to be filled at the discretion of the party president.

This means that Taib himself will be returned unopposed for a further three-year period, along with two deputy presidents - presently held by Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu for the Pesaka (Iban/Bidayuh/Orang Ulu) wing and State Housing Minister Abang Johari Tun Openg for the Bumiputra (Muslim Malay/Melanau) wing .

Of the two senior vice president posts, one of the posts is held by incumbent former state and former federal minister Adenan Satem, who is Tanjung Datu state assemblyperson, and the other will be vacant as the incumbent Celestine Ujang Jilan, a former state minister, has announced he will not be seeking re-election for the post reserved for the Pesaka wing.

Speculation is that either party secretary-general Ambrose Blikau, a state assistant minister, or another state assistant minister Gramong Juna will be promoted to senior vice president to replace Ujang.

PBB was formed following the merger of the Malay/Melanau-based Parti Bumiputera (PB), then led by Rahman Yakub, and Parti Pesaka Anak Sarawak (Pesaka), then led by the late Tun Temenggong Jugah Barieng, in the 1970s.

When Jugah stepped down eventually as PBB president, Rahman took over and Jugah's lawyer son Leonard Linggi, now a highly successful businessman, took over as secretary-general until he resigned several years ago and Blikau was appointed as secretary-general.

Filling the vacancies

There will be several new faces to the new line-up of seven elected vice presidents.

Former federal minister Dr Sulaiman Daud, who is one of four PBB vice presidents, has announced he is not seeking re-election, and speculation is that Taib's brother Ali Mahmud, the state assemblyperson for Muara Tuang, is likely to be appointed VP.

Former federal minister Dr Leo Michael Toyad, the member of parliament for Mukah, is likely to stay in his post as VP, and has indicated that he wants to keep the post.

With Adenan Satem's (photo) promotion to the senior vice president, one of the VP posts has also been vacant, and speculation is that the highly-ambition party treasurer and senior state minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan is likely to take up another of the vacant VP posts.

Among the VP posts reserved for the Pesaka wing, Orang Ulu businessman Wan Ullok has also announced he is stepping down and the Telang Usan state assemblyperson Lihan Jok, a former school-teacher, is likely to be elected to fill the VP slot for the Orang Ulu.

Another Pesaka VP slot that is now vacant after Ujang moved up to the senior vice president is likely to be taken up by either Gramong or Blikau or even Uggah.
In the event Awang Tengah is promoted to one of the VP slots, his position as treasurer appointed by the party president is likely to go a state assistant minister Noordin Majais since he is known as the person who holds the party's financial strings.

According to insiders, the anticipated changes could also see Linggi's son Alex Nanta, the member of parliament for Kapit, taking over eventually as Youth chief, with state assemblyperson for Asajaya Karim Abdul Rahman Hamzah remaining as Youth No 2.

Women, Youth elections postponed

There will be contests, however, for the party's 20 supreme council posts comprising 11 reserved for the Bumiputra wing and nine by the Pesaka wing.

In the May 2006 state elections, PBB has brought in a number of new faces, mostly middle-aged senior government officials, and some of the positions are likely to go to some of them to reflect the top leadership's desire to position these youthful state representatives for leadership roles in the party.

A party official said that for several undisclosed reasons, the women and youth wings have postponed their elections to a date to be fixed later. The February 2007 convention will only see election of office-bearers to the main body.

The new list of office-bearers could give some pointers to Taib's thinking on who are likely to play a more dominant role once he has decided to take a back-stage role and let the younger leaders run the party.

Political analysts in Kuching also said that an announcement by party vice president Mohamed Effendi Norwawi today that he is to resign from party post is also part of Taib’s larger agenda.

These analysts said that Effendi could be earmarked to play a bigger role in Sarawak politics in a post-Taib Mahmud era.

Effendi, who is also a minister in the Prime Minister's Department, said he submitted his resignation letter to Taib on Dec 14.

He said that he wanted to make way for others to take over the post which he has held since 1998, adding that he will not seek re-election at the party's triennial general assembly in February.

The party's constitution is also going to be amended, with the significant changes likely in doing away with the setting up of branches to reflect the number of state constituencies (71) and sub-branches instead of the present system of having divisions and branches.

The party leaders are worried that with the existing 2,000 branches there could be a lot of administrative problems and proper control, and want to branches to be streamlined in line with the practice of many other political parties.

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