Sarawak must deny Barisan Nasional (BN) its two-thirds majority in the state assembly during next month’s polls if it wants to see the end of Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s 30 years as chief minister, said Lim Kit Siang today.
According to the DAP stalwart, Taib has “asked for a blank cheque” to continue as chief minister when he said he would stay to “groom a successor and form a new team”.
“These tasks may take him the entire term of the next government after he had dismally failed in the past 30 years to prepare for a succession,” the Ipoh Timur MP said.
None of Taib’s previously named successors — Tan Sri Adenan Satem, Datuk Seri Abang Johari Tun Abang Haji Openg and Datuk Seri Effendi Norwawi — has managed to last the distance.
Since the trio, the chief minister has not openly anointed an heir to his presidency of the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the lynchpin of the Sarawak BN.
“Short of voting out Barisan Nasional in next general elections, the only way to ensure Taib steps down as Sarawak chief minister is to deny BN two-thirds majority in the Sarawak state assembly,” said the DAP parliamentary leader.
The Pakatan Rakyat (PR) electoral pact had denied BN its customary two-thirds of Dewan Rakyat and five state governments in Election 2008, and Lim’s DAP is now the largest opposition party in Parliament following PKR’s loss of six MPs
Following the electoral losses, then prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was forced to announce a two-year transition plan in mid-2008 but even this was cut short when he handed over power to Datuk Seri Najib Razak in April 2009.
Today, Lim added that the PBB president has been “vague and elastic” about his plans to step down after the upcoming state polls set to be held in April, but even Najib is not “prepared to cross his path.”
“Although some media reported that Taib had committed himself to a timetable to hand over the chief ministership, it is clear that Taib did not make any such commitment yesterday,” he said.
He pointed out that when asked, Taib had said that he had planned to step down since the 2006 state election but postponed it.
“Just as his plan to step down as chief minister from 2006 had not worked and he had to postpone it, his plan to step down as chief minister after the next elections... could similarly go awry... ‘forcing’ him again to postpone his retirement plan,” said Lim.
The 10th Sarawak state election is expected to be held in the middle of next month following the announcement by Abdul Taib that the state legislative assembly will be dissolved on Monday.
The Election Commission is required to hold elections within 60 days of the dissolution of the assembly.
