Will Adenan go all the way?

Talk of an early state election is in the air even as the Sarawak Chief Minister is still trying to find his footing, establish his mark and address thorny issues like corruption and good governance. 

Joceline Tan, The Star

SARAWAK Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem walks slowly and is not a natural smiler.

He has a serious face and formal manners, and reporters in Kuching say he is hard to pin down, which usually means that they are not getting newsy statements from him.

But serious does not mean boring because there is a rather playful side to Adenan.

During the Malaysia Day celebration in Kuching, Adenan startled the federal leaders on stage when he began his speech with an ear-piercing “ooooohaaaaaa”. It is one of those native rallying cries that is guaranteed to break the ice at any gathering, and it had that effect on the Malaysia Day crowd.

At one function, he started his speech by saying at the top of his voice: “Can you hear me?”

It made everyone in the audience sit up and, again, it broke the ice. Beneath that proper and stern demeanour is a rather witty man.

Dr Faisal: Still widespread concern about corruption.

Shortly after he became Chief Minister, he knew that all eyes were on him and that everyone was checking him out. He would stand on stage with a poker face and ask in his booming voice: “Hah, tenguk muka ini, handsome tak? (Look at this face. Handsome or not?)” It was another of his guaranteed ice-breakers.

Recently, when asked if he was planning to call for a state election, he said it was “going to be soon”. Reporters almost jumped out of their seats when they heard that.

Then, in the same even tone, he added: “As soon as June 2016.” That is when the state government’s term expires.

Adenan’s cheeky tongue-in-cheek quips have, however, triggered off the guessing game on when he would seek his own mandate.

Some claimed he may call for polls as early as the first half of next year to capitalise on the goodwill bubbling around him. Others said he has no reason to rush, the government has a comfortable two-thirds majority and time is on his side.

“There is no urgency. He is confident of his position, he would want to use the time to go around the state and get support,” said Datuk Abang Karim Tun Openg, president of the Sarawak Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

According to Unimas political scientist Dr Faisal Syam Hazis, Adenan will have to tackle the infighting in Barisan Nasional before he goes for a new mandate.

Sarawak politics has been in a flux the last few years. Old friends have become new foes and the intense infighting in several Barisan parties have resulted in new splinter parties being set up.

Abang Karim: No urgency for Adenan to call for polls.

For instance, a strongman of Sarawak’s oldest party SUPP (Sarawak United People’s Party) has left to form the UPP (United People’s Party) while the former leader of SPDP (Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party) is now leader of a new party called Teras.

The new parties are “friendly to Barisan” but the leaders are at loggerheads. Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian (the new president of SUPP) and Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh (the president of the newly-formed UPP) have been exchanging verbal blows in the Sarawak media every day.

To complicate matters, the leaders of the two splinter parties are still ministers in the state government even though their parties are not part of Barisan.

The whole scenario is so bizarre and voters are hardly amused.

“It is tricky for Adenan. He cannot risk an election unless and until he can sort this out,” said Dr Faisal.

There has been no honeymoon for Adenan. For a start, the man who picked him for the job, Tun Taib Mahmud, is still a major personality in the state. Taib, who was Chief Minister for 32 years, is now the Governor and it is no fun having his predecessor watching every move that he makes.

Then there is the question of his health. Adenan underwent heart surgery about two years ago, and he is now walking about with a pace-maker. He tires easily but as many have noticed, he has put on some weight and is looking better than before.

Copter phobia

However, there are concerns whether he will be able to take the pressure of running a state election. He is also known to have a phobia of taking helicopters after a helicopter that he was supposed to be in crashed, killing his political secretary.

But Adenan’s biggest challenge is whether he can keep the opposition parties at bay. Pakatan Rakyat is ambitious and hungry for more after their 2011 polls success. Pakatan went from six seats to 15 seats, with DAP winning 12 and PKR three.

Taib’s exit has diluted the anger that the Chinese especially harboured about his government.

“But many of them have since moved beyond the issue of Taib. There is still widespread concern about larger issues like corruption and governance,” said Dr Faisal.

But no one, not even the Pakatan politicians, see Barisan being toppled in Sarawak.

However, Adenan has to do better if he wants to be seen as a strong Chief Minister. He has to regain some lost seats, otherwise he will have problems like Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

Sarawak is a golden state because of oil and logging and DAP is getting ready for the fight.

DAP is the most organised and focused among the opposition parties, and its hostility towards PAS of late in the peninsula is to signal to Sarawakians that it is not part of the PAS agenda of an Islamic state and hudud law. The party has to do that to hold on to the Chinese and Christian votes.

The majority of Sarawakians find the peninsula’s stand on issues like the Bahasa Malaysia Bible and the kalimah Allah frightening and extremist.

Adenan has publicly declared that Sarawak has no problems with the Bahasa Malaysia Bible or the use of kalimah Allah by Christians.

The state DAP, under pressure to match the moderation of the ruling coalition, has declared it will pull out of Pakatan if PAS persists with its hudud agenda.

Adenan does seem to have made a good start.

He may seem laidback but he has a mind of his own and he has ideas about how things should be done and he can be quite blunt about it. In meetings with government servants, he has shown that he knows what he is talking about and he has made it clear what he expects of them.

“People used to think that he is not a politician but he has a list of things that he feels strongly about and he’s been going at it one after another,” said a Kuching-based journalist.

He recently said that he is for the use of English in teaching Mathematics and Science, an issue that is of concern to the middle class.

He has started to address issues of corruption and accountability. He made news when he said he would not allow his immediate family, namely his wife and children, to apply for state land and logging licences.

He also wants to act against illegal logging and has allowed the state to issue firearms to forestry officers.

At the first of a series of MACC seminars aimed at addressing the issue of integrity in government, he said he had received reports on timber smuggling, illegal logging and non-payment of royalties and he wants to put a stop to it.

“In terms of strategy, he has hijacked the opposition’s agenda,” said Dr Faisal.

Kind gesture

Adenan was instrumental in setting up a RM1mil fund to help the family of the late state DAP leader Wong Ho Leng pay his medical bills. Wong was the former Bukit Assek assemblyman and Adenan’s gesture had a huge impact.

Prominent Sarawak businessman Datuk Sia Hiong Ngie singled it out as an act that created the biggest impression on him about Adenan’s leadership, the fact that Adenan treated politicians from the other side with dignity and respect.

The Chinese who had moved in concert against Adenan’s predecessor have been watching the new man very closely. What he says and does will determine the way they vote.

At a dialogue with Chinese groups, one community leader complained that the state land allocated to Chinese schools to help them become more self-sustaining was too remotely located to be of much use. Adenan told the audience that they could surrender the property and reapply for land in a more convenient location.

“He did very well in answering the questions. Things he can do, he will agree. If he cannot do it, he will say so. That is his style,” said an officer from a development firm in Kuching.

Adenan’s advantage, said the above officer, is that he came in with no baggage and there is less gossip and controversy about his private life and family.

Comparisons will continue to be made between Adenan and his predecessor. That is unavoidable.

Taib is still a news-maker despite his largely ceremonial role as Sarawak Governor. He continues to get front-page treatment in the Sarawak media wherever he goes. It may have to do with the fact that Taib, 78, and his young wife Toh Puan Ragad Kurdi Taib, whose age is one of the best-kept secrets in Sarawak, are such a glamorous society couple.

Adenan, despite his posh English and intellect, has a more down-to-earth image. He still tries to do things that he and his wife Puan Sri Jamilah Anu used to do before he landed in the coveted seat.

A journalist was surprised to meet the couple browsing in a Kuching bookstore and the Borneo Post recently carried a picture of them shopping in a wet market.

Adenan, as some have noted, is still his same old self and that is the nicest thing about him.

So much has changed in his life and yet he has not changed at all. At the same time, he is taking steps that his predecessor had not taken.