Witches, riches, victories in Taib-land
HORNBILL UNLEASHED
PBB president Taib Mahmud will not allow Umno’s Najib Tun Razak or Muhyiddin Yassin to ever corner him again.
In Sarawak, the highlight of 2011 was the “unravelling” of “godlike” Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and the exciting historic victory by the opposition in the state election.
Frankly, Taib has been the preoccupation of politicians, activists – both local and abroad – and the man-on-the street.
Why, one may ask, and we will say it is because Taib has over the last 30 years woven himself into the very fabric of Sarawakian lives in politics, trade and practices.
Observers here claim that Taib controls everything.
He has wielded his political clout muzzling local dissent, monopolising corporate Sarawak, and exuding uncharacteristic charm and fatherly “benevolence” at the longhouses littering the rural interior – wooing native Sarawakians into believing that he is “clean and corrupt-free” and that those accusing him are “evil” and not to be trusted.
The year 2011 saw Taib’s secrets exposed by a UK-based investigative portal Sarawak Report (SR) and its bold Radio Free Sarawak (RFM), with its broadcasts in local Iban dialect.
SR in collaboration with the Swiss-based Bruno Manser Fund (BMF) made shocking revelations of Taib and his family’s “unimaginable” wealth running into billions in US dollars across eight countries.
BMF alleged that Taib was corrupt and had pillaged and plundered the state since he came to power in 1981.
BMF has also released figures showing that Taib and his family held influential stakes worth US$1.46 billion in 330 companies in Sarawak and in 80 other companies globally.
In response, Taib simply said ” my children are clever”.
BMF has also pressured several countries to investigate Taib’s alleged money laundering and already probing Taib’s global links are Switzerland, Germany and Australia.
Here in Malaysia, there’s been increasing pressure for the authorities to investigate Taib.
Witches and gangsters
On the local front, opposition DAP, emboldened by its 13-seat victory in the April 16 state election, has been openly demanding for transparency over contracts awarded to Taib-linked companies in Sarawak.
According to the party, no major contract in Sarawak is without a Taib-linked company stamp.
During the April state election campaign, DAP – together with its Pakatan Rakyat allies PKR and PAS – had successfully highlighted the issues of corruption, power abuse, nepotism and cronyism allegedly committed by the state government.
Land grabs by the authorities, land rents, premiums, education, Chinese education and schools were also hot topics that eventually saw the thrashing of the Chinese-dominated Sarawak United People Party (SUPP) at the state polls.
Since winning the polls, Taib has tightened the noose on his own Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).
He has made it clear that his party can and will rule Sarawak with or without coalition members SUPP, Party Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).
In the run-up to the April 16 polls, Taib saw an unexpected spoiler in his cousin and former deputy education minister Salleh Jafaruddin.
Salleh, who stood against Taib in Balingian constituency, brought to light Taib’s fetish for bomohs and witches who “guided” his continued stay in power.
According to Salleh, Taib was notorious for consulting with black magic practitioners and after the death of his wife Laila Taib, his daughter Raziah had moved in to consolidate her influence with her father by introducing her own in-house female bomoh – a blonde named Stella – to him.
A SR report noted that Stella’s signature ritual included “tip-toeing and howling”.
“Each morning she (Stella) would cross the garden from Raziah’s house to the ground of Taib’s residence and would perform a ritual of chasing away evil spirits before the chief minister rose for his early run!”
Salleh also spoke of Taib’s conniving mind and his bevy of “gangsters” who cast a shadow of fear over Balingian in the run-up to the April 16 state election, which Taib eventually won.
Taib’s majority, however, was far less than in 2004 as was Barisan Nasional’s overall support in Sarawak.
