With the Sarawak elections due in the next two months, social rights activist Peter John Jaban is disappointed that politicians are not going to push for corruption investigations into former chief minister Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud.
Jaban said it was unfortunate that politicians, even from the opposition who had used corruption claims against Taib for mileage in the 2011 state polls, had dropped the issue for their upcoming campaign.
"Politicians are only interested in (gaining) political mileage and forget the serious corruption issues that people care about.
"If someone takes away my land, I want my land back," he told The Malaysian Insider.
"The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) should proceed with the investigations. This is not the end of it." said Jaban, the spokesman for the Sarawak for Sarawakians movement.
MACC had opened investigations into Taib, now the Sarawak governor, after investigative agency Global Witness released a video documentary in 2013 alleging that he received millions of ringgit in kickbacks over land deals that have stripped the Borneo state of its forests.
No charges have been pressed against Taib to date.
Sarawak's opposition parties had been mounting a strident campaign against Taib that earned them more seats in the 2011 elections, especially for DAP.
Taib, the chief minister for 33 years, had often been accused by foreign organisations and environmentalists of abusing his office to amass a huge fortune for himself and family members through lucrative state contracts in timber and land.
Nicknamed “White Hair” or “Bai Mao” (white hair in Mandarin), he had many songs written about him, and DAP ceramahs never failed to chant the slogan “Bai Mo won’t go, people will eat grass”.
Political pundits claim the DAP campaign against Taib was such a success that the state BN Chinese party, Sarawak United People's Party's (SUPP), took beatings at the 2011 polls, losing 13 of the 19 seats they contested.
DAP, meanwhile, won 12 of the 15 seats it contested, double the number it won in 2006.
This time, however, Sarawak's opposition parties say they will not target Taib over his alleged corruption in the coming state polls.
State DAP founding chairman, Chong Siew Chiang (pic, left), said even though the opposition would continue to harp on corruption in the election, Taib, who stepped down in 2014, would not be their target like he used to be in the past.
“He is no longer a politician and as the governor, should not be the subject of criticism and insults,” Chong, whose son Chong Chieng Jen is the current state DAP chairman, told The Malaysian Insider in a recent interview.
“I will advise all party leaders to be aware of this (Taib's position as governor) and not insult the governor,” said Chong, who still sits as a committee member in the state DAP.
“He's no longer in the political limelight now. Of course, we still talk about him, but we have bigger issues to talk about,” state Parti Amanah Negara chairman Fidzuan Zaidi said.
Fidzuan said the allegations of financial scandal involving Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, his RM2.6 billion political donation and his controversial brainchild 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) are the bigger issues now.
Sarawak PKR election director See Chew How dismissed Taib altogether, saying he was not important in PKR’s campaign.
“There are more important issues like the rising cost of living, Sarawak’s autonomy, native customary rights (NCR) land and other issues.”
Even Sarawak Report, the popular whistleblower blog which exposed the extraordinary wealth of Taib and his family members, is now focusing on the prime minister, said an observer.
Despite this, the opposition Pakatan Harapan said pervasive corruption would still be central to their campaign in the coming election, even though their “pet target” had departed the political scene.
Leonard Shim, the chairman of Advocates' Associations of Sarawak (AAS), which had lodged a police report over the Global Witness documentary, said Taib was innocent under the law until proven guilty.
Apart from suspected wrongdoings, he said Taib should also be remembered for his contributions to the state in bringing political stability.-Malaysian Insider
