“I doubt the people of Sarawak are in the mood to celebrate with their chief minister although Taib has achieved the historic milestone as the country’s longest-serving CM,” said Movement For Change, Sarawak leader Francis Paul Siah.
“Taib’s legacy is one of blatant abuse of power. To Sarawakians and Malaysians, he will be remembered as one of the nation’s most corrupt political leaders who perpetuated money politics and the politics of patronage, nepotism and despotism. He is also the grandmaster of the politics of fear and intimidation,” he said.
Siah pointed out that Taib’s alleged acquisition of enormous wealth through illegal and dishonest means has caused a lot of suffering to Sarawakians.
“Business opportunities are almost zero for those not linked to Taib or his family and cronies. The massive land grabs have caused untold sufferings to the people, particularly the Dayaks. The fraudulent destruction of Sarawak’s forests has created an environmental disaster for the state,” he said.
“With all these negatives stacked against the chief minister, who is in the mood to celebrate with him? In fact, Taib should have stepped down long ago.
“With his declared intention to stay on, it is now clear that people’s power is the only way to remove him. If the April 16 state election fails to do that, then Sarawakians will have to take other courses of action,” Siah said.
The MoCS leader reminded Taib of the movement’s deadline for him to go – Aug 13 this year.
“If he is still around by then, we will know what to do,” Siah added.
MoCS has also compiled a list of 30 reasons why Taib must step down in conjunction with his 30th anniversary today:
1. He has been chief minister for 30 years, overstaying his welcome.
2. He listens to nobody except himself.
3. He creates and perpetuates himself into a dangerous, cultish image of invincibility.
4. He does not hesitate to let all know that he is all powerful, almighty and untouchable – glaring images of a dictator.
5. He is out of control. Nobody can control him, not even the prime minister, perhaps not even God. A person who is beyond control is dangerous.
6. He is not in the best of health to administer a state. He said he has colon cancer.
7. He spends more time outside Sarawak than inside. Over the past six months, he was hardly in the state for one month. That means he has no more time for Sarawak.
8. He is paid a salary by the state as chief minister. But he is not working at all, preferring to spend his time overseas looking after his business empire, or continuing his perpetual honeymoon.
9. His politics of development is one big farce.
10. He lied to Abang Johari, Adenan Satem and Effendi Norwawi, telling them they were being groomed to take over. After 30 years, they are still not groomed yet and incapable of taking over as chief minister.
11. He does not want anyone to succeed him. A leader without a successor is no leader at all.
12. He is incapable of tolerating dissent. He will not hesitate to sack members of his cabinet, even at the slightest provocation.
13. He is a very hot-tempered man with a short fuse. On one occasion, he had created a public scene by kicking a flower pot and had thrown books and files at people in a rage.
14. He is vindictive. He will leave no stones unturned to ensure that those who oppose him suffer in his hands for the rest of their life.
15. He dabbles in “bomohism” and black magic. His uncle, Abdul Rahman Yakub, the first person to accuse him of believing in the occult and the dark side, should know better.
16. He practises favouritism in the Sarawak civil service. Officers he favours can jump several notches to be departmental heads, side-stepping other more senior and deserving staff. The state civil service has become a very demoralised institution as a result.
17. He is the grandmaster of the divide-and-rule game. As chief minister, he should be forging unity among the people of Sarawak. Instead, he takes great pleasure in dividing them.
18. He keeps the main ministerial portfolios for himself, unwilling to designate power and authority to his cabinet colleagues. With the portfolios he gives himself, he is virtually in control of all resources in Sarawak.
19. He does not believe in transparency and accountability in handling government development funds and projects.
20. He does not understand the meaning of “open tender”. Public contracts become his personal business, grabbing the projects for himself. All he knows is “This is me, mine and myself.”
21. He is seen as a bully of the highest order among component parties in the Sarawak BN.
22. He is unable to improve the living standard of Sarawakians, especially the Dayak communities. Instead he misuses his power to make them subservient towards him.
23. He pays no attention to the plight of the indigenous groups in Sarawak, alleged to have robbed them of their NCR land via plantation companies owned by his family and cronies. He never said a word after the Penan girls were raped by loggers.
24. He continues to “prostitute” Sarawak resources to the federal government and has never fought for Sarawak’s interests in Peninsular Malaysia. His failure to pursue a review of the Petroleum Agreement is an example.
25. He has failed or not done enough to develop Sarawak to be at par with Peninsular Malaysia, resulting in the state being consistently 20 years behind the peninsula.
26. He allows Umno policies to prevail and dominate nationally with total disregard of the rights and interests of the state’s minorities. And Umno is one party which many Sarawakians do not want to see in their state.
27. He treats the opposition unfairly in and outside the State Legislative Assembly. He controls the whole House and ensures that the allegations about his dubious dealings are not recorded in the assembly’s hansard.
28. He favours skewed delineation of electoral boundaries to ensure that he has the numbers to keep him in power. Gerrymandering is rampant in every new delineation exercise in Sarawak.
29. He is well known for leaving Sarawakians in a lurch in times of natural calamities like the haze occurrences and great floods. He leaves the state whenever it is enveloped by haze but he is also responsible for the destruction of Sarawak’s forests.
30. He is extremely wealthy beyond comprehension. His enormous wealth is believed to have been amassed through illegal and dishonest means. He has not given a single response to all the accusations and allegations against him as contained in the Sarawak Report website, Bruno Manser Fund and other whistleblowers despite the overwhelming evidence.
MoCS has declared him guilty of all the accusations labelled at him on March 13, this year.
MoCS asks Taib to ponder over these reasons why he should step down on the 30th anniversary of his chief ministership. (FMT)
30years is too long. Taib should step down from his position as the cm.
ReplyDeleteOthers should be given the chance to be the cm.
ReplyDeleteit is up to people to make choices.
ReplyDeleteterpulang dgn rakyat sarawak untuk memilih Taib sebagai CM ataupun tidak.
ReplyDeleteLet sarawakian make their decision for Sarawak CM..
ReplyDeleteI think it is time that Taib step down
ReplyDeletePek Moh should retire and let the youngsters to take over.
ReplyDelete"6. He is not in the best of health to administer a state. He said he has colon cancer."
ReplyDeleteThis point is enough to explain that why he must retire..
Musang bin tidak aman also should be sacked and sent to jail immediately for corruption.
ReplyDeleteAllahku tahu kerja dosa dia.
Sudah lama Taib menduduki jawatan KM Sarawak. Sudah tiba masa.
ReplyDelete