‘Taib the next Wan Mokhtar?’
(Harakah Daily) – KUCHING, Apr 15: With barely 24 hours before Sarawakians participate in the state’s most intensely fought election, “Will Taib Mahmud become the next Wan Mokhtar Ahmad?” has been a question on everyone’s lips.
Wan Mokhtar Ahmad was the long-serving Terengganu Menteri Besar from 1974 till 1999, who suffered a shock defeat to PAS during the 1999 general election, delivering to the Islamic party one of the peninsula’s richest states.
So when former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad told the embattled Sarawak chief minister to “learn from history”, veteran DAP leader Lim Kit Siang wondered whether the former strongman was referring to Mokhtar.
“Can former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad be proven right when he cryptically advised Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to ‘learn from history’ in deciding when to step down, citing the case of ‘one MB who insisted he should continue, and lost the whole state’?” asked Lim.
‘Putrajaya closed six days’
Saying Taib’s continued stay in office has become the most potent weapon against Barisan Nasional in election tomorrow, Lim (left) said the issue had united Sarawakians from all walks of life, bringing them together on the agreement that Taib’s tenure was marked by absence of accountability, transparency and good governance, as well as unanswered allegations on abuses of power and rampant corruption.
In spite of this fact, said Lim, prime minister Najib Razak was helplessly attempting to get Taib to agree on early retirement, an attempt which was foiled following Taib’s public declaration that he would stay put for “few more years”.
“There is nothing the Prime Minister could do about it. For instance, when Najib ‘closed down’ Putrajaya for six days and led his entire Cabinet to Sarawak to campaign in the Sarawak state general elections on Sunday, his first message was to assure Sarawakians that a change in the state leadership was imminent.
“But Taib refused to ‘play ball’ and made it very clear in Najib’s presence the next day that he was not planning any ‘imminent’ stepping down as Chief Minister, as his time frame is ‘in a few years’ time’,” said Lim.
Lim described as the ‘greatest political mystery of the century’ a claim by Taib that he had been grooming his successor for 20 years.
