Najib evasive over Taib exit plan

Najib waves to the crowd at the Kuching South City Council Indoor Stadium last night, April 10, 2011. — Picture by Choo Choy May

KUCHING, April 11 — The prime minister was forced to dodge questions over Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud’s exit plan today even as Pakatan Rakyat (PR) ramped up attacks against the long-serving Sarawak chief minister ahead of Saturday’s state polls.

In what appeared to be yet another bid to quell growing anti-Taib sentiment, Datuk Seri Najib Razak repeated his guarantee this afternoon that there would be a transition in the Sarawak leadership in due course but did not give details.

“There is [an] understanding. We’ll reveal that when the time comes but the transition is there,” the BN chairman said after visiting Sri Aman Hospital.

“The most important thing is to ensure a very smooth transition. We cannot simply jump into making [a] quick solution. Change in the leadership requires proper handling so there will be no problem after that.”

Najib also denied that Taib had become a liability to BN, stressing that the relationship between the federal and state governments was still strong.

Asked if the ruling coalition had identified a successor to Taib, who has ruled Sarawak for 30 years, Najib said all would be revealed in good time.

“We have the understanding. We’ll come to that later,” he said.

Taib is deeply unpopular in Chinese-majority urban areas.

Najib had last night reassured some 1,000 voters at Kuching South City Council Indoor Stadium that Taib — deeply unpopular in Chinese-majority urban areas — will step down as promised after the state election.

Opposition leaders, however, have demanded that the prime minister name Taib’s quit date and successor as similar promises had not been kept in the past.

PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim discounted Najib’s sincerity yesterday, describing his promise as “another cheap political gimmick to cloud the people’s judgement”.

Anwar predicted that Najib would fail to fulfil his promise despite being prime minister as he had no influence over the powerful Taib, who even stood up to strongman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad years ago.

Sarawak goes to polls on Saturday in an election that is fast becoming BN’s to lose.

While PR’s leaders have admitted that BN will successfully defend its hold over the hornbill state, many have also expressed confidence that the ruling coalition’s majority in the state assembly will be significantly reduced.

BN held 63 seats in the 71-seat assembly while DAP had six, and PKR and Parti Cinta Malaysia one each.