A powerful chief minister bows out—or
does he?
FEW of Asia’s elected leaders have enjoyed the power of
Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak. For 33 years he lorded it
over this Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, once densely forested and
still rich in oil. Mr Taib was an appropriate successor to generations of the
British Brooke family, who ran the territory as their own monarchy for a
century from 1841. They were known as the White Rajahs. Their 77-year-old,
white-haired modern equivalent, Mr Taib, will officially retire on February
28th, passing the job to a hand-picked successor, Adenan Saten. Mr Taib,
though, will probably get another comfortable job himself, retaining much
influence.
Few have contributed more, for better and for worse, to the
course of modern Malaysian history. Mr Taib has played a crucial role in
keeping the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition in power—it has ruled ever since Malaysia
won independence from Britain in 1957. The two former British possessions on
Borneo, Sabah and Sarawak, joined the new federation of Malaysia in 1963
(together with Singapore, which dropped out two years later). Ever since, east
Malaysia has supplied the oil and votes that the BN needs.
Oil revenues have fuelled the country’s breakneck
development, while the votes have kept the coalition’s stranglehold on federal
power even as its share of the vote has dropped steeply over time in peninsular
Malaysia. Gerrymandering by the BN means that Sabah and Sarawak, largely rural
and sparsely inhabited, fill almost a quarter of the federal parliament’s
seats, out of all proportion to their populations. Mr Taib has secured the vote
every time. The 25 seats out of a possible 31 that his own political machine,
allied to the BN, won in the general election last year was, with the seats
that the BN’s allies won in Sabah, the difference between the coalition holding
on to power and electoral humiliation.
His electoral muscle has given Mr Taib disproportionate
political clout. He has run Sarawak single-handedly, with little accounting to
anyone. His supporters credit him with presiding over an era of unparalleled
development, transforming a disease-ridden backwater into a relatively modern
state and well-known tourist destination. He has also used his clout with the
central government to insist upon an impressive degree of local autonomy for
Sarawak, thus preserving its special ethnic and religious make-up in the
federation.
In Sarawak Malays are only the third-largest ethnic group.
About 40 ethnic groups make up the largest proportion of the population, of
which the indigenous Iban is the biggest. The second-biggest group are ethnic
Chinese. Mr Taib himself comes from the Melanau, accounting for about 6% of the
population. Sarawak also boasts a variety of religions, and there are more
Christians than Muslims. While preserving this diversity, Mr Taib has also
mastered and exploited ethnic divisions to build his political base, a process
greased by cash at election time to persuade people to vote the right way.
But for all the chief minister’s insistence on Sarawak’s
exceptionalism, legions of critics argue that it was a smokescreen for his
administration and its friends to exploit the country. Mr Taib, who drives
around in a Rolls-Royce and flies by private jet, has for several years been
under investigation by the country’s anti-graft agency. Environmentalists say
that under him Sarawak has lost nine-tenths of its virgin rainforest, most of
it converted into lucrative palm-oil concessions. This has resulted in a huge
loss in biodiversity.
Widespread deforestation has resulted in numerous battles
over indigenous land rights. Local Iban have suffered from the bulldozing and
development of their lands by state-backed logging companies and have sought
redress in the courts. A Malaysian expert on indigenous land rights, Colin
Nicholas, says at least 200 such cases are now working their way through the
courts in Sarawak. Non-governmental organisations say that, in this regard, the
chief minister has been more foe than friend to the Iban and other ethnic
groups.
Some argue that, with Mr Taib stepping down, the BN might
try to exert more direct control over politics in Sarawak, as they have in
Sabah. But Mr Taib will probably become the state governor. This is a largely
ceremonial role, like that of a royal sultan in peninsular Malay states. But
from this position he will retain plenty of influence over Sarawak; it is unlikely
that anything very much will change. What is more, in his new role Mr Taib
could well enjoy immunity from prosecution, although the exact legal position
is unclear. Either way, Tian Chua, of the opposition Democratic Action Party,
says that Mr Taib has become the “Vladimir Putin of Sarawak”. The Economist
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