However, not even a year later, Adenan's popularity has surged as many Sarawakians are impressed with his stand to protect the state's interests and liberal religious policies.
Some are even calling for him to be the next prime minister, describing him as a man “possessing the qualities of a true Malaysian leader”.
Adenan’s surge in popularity ahead of the state elections expected in 2016 has raised Barisan Nasional’s hopes of regaining seats lost to the opposition in the last election.
In nine short months, Adenan has also won admirers outside of Sarawak. Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had expressed admiration for Adenan for his “straight talking” while Star Sabah chief Datuk Jeffrey Kitingan had hailed him for standing up to Putrajaya in protecting Sarawak's rights and interests.
But the 70-year-old Adenan, who studied at the prestigious Catholic mission school, St Joseph's, in Kuching, is not putting too much importance on the show of support.
In one newspaper interview, he said that while he was grateful for the expressions of support from many people from all walks of life across the communities who wished him well in his new job, he did not “expect the opposition to be complimentary”.
However, opposition leaders too have praises for him.
“So far he's saying the right things and doing the right things,” state DAP chief Chong Chieng Jen said.
Then again, he said: “We're still looking at him objectively and with an open mind”.
One of the things Chong, who is Bandar Kuching MP and state assemblyman for Kota Sentosa, is supporting Adenan on is the latter's stand on corruption.
In June, Adenan had agreed with the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) suggestion not to allow his immediate family members to apply for state land or logging concessions by signing an integrity pledge.
In recent weeks, he showed that he was not all talk when he warned the state's six biggest timber companies to reign in their wayward contractors who were engaged in illegal logging.
After warning the Big 6, he made them sign the integrity pledge and promised not to dabble in corrupt practices like having forest officers or other enforcement agencies officers on their payroll.
This was quickly followed by getting the Forest Department out of their slumber to conduct several raids on sawmills suspected of processing illegally felled logs, log ponds of these timber companies and areas where suspected illegal logging is taking place.
Other “right things” that Adenan had said which struck a chord with Sarawakians were on the autonomy of Sarawak and its position in the formation of Malaysia.
He won more support when he lamented that Sarawak was not being treated as an equal partner in the federation and also when he promised to bar religious bigots, extremists and troublemakers from the state.
Adenan had also stressed on the right of Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Sarawakians to use Bibles containing the word Allah and made a promise to never to implement the hudud law “while I am still chief minister”.
Many also supported him on his demand for Sarawak's oil and gas royalty to be raised from 5% to 20%.
In a Gawai Dayak open house in Betong in June, he told the Christian majority in the Dayak heartland that he chose to be liberal in matters of religion “to preserve the religious and racial harmony of the state”.
“Though I am born a Muslim, I respect those who are Christians, Buddhists and people of other faiths.
“Extremism and bigotry will not thrive in Sarawak because I will not let such elements to come in and infiltrate our society,” he had said.
Baru Bian, the state PKR leader, had not expected Adenan to start off with a bang.
"He certainly started off on a different tone and the bold statements he made were certainly a departure from Taib's," said Baru.
Baru also welcomed the Adenan's openess in wanting to meet opposition politicians and listen to them.
“If it’s the previous chief minister, I don't think we would be given the audience.”
Adenan had met opposition politicians twice since taking office.
“So, obviously, this chief minister is doing things in a very unorthodox way. He does things without following protocol.
“He's not doing things by the book. If he thinks that is the right thing to do, he would do them, like he always said he would,” Baru added.
But Chong and Baru are waiting to see if Adenan would walk the talk when it comes to bringing reforms to the government.
“Whether he can truly bring reforms to the Sarawak administration, weed out or reduce tremendously cronyism, corruption and other abuses, we have yet to see.
“There have been certain things that had transpired lately that might be seen as heading towards that direction but the resistance within his administration to go for a clean, fair and transparent government is still strong,” said Chong.
“It’s still too early to say.”
The clean image Adenan has potrayed and his no-nonsense demeanour have also got the opposition worried in the run-up to the state election.
“He's no Taib for sure,” Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng told a group of Sarawak journalists who visited Penang recently.
“He does not have skeletons in his closet.”
The opposition would do well to take heed of Adenan's remark that he had some “surprises” for the opposition in the election.
If Adenan does become an all-action man as the opposition fears, Sarawakians can expect him to continue leading them for another five years.
By Desmond Davidson
No comments:
Post a Comment