Salleh Jafaruddin to battle cousin Taib

The former PBB leader will be locking horns with the mighty chief minister in the latter's stronghold of Balingian during the Sarawak state election

KUCHING: Ex-PBB leader Salleh Jafaruddin will contest against his second cousin and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud in the Balingian seat under the auspices of the Movement of Change Sarawak (MoCS).

“I am fighting the big man,” the former deputy education minister told a press conference at the Kuching airport before leaving for Balingian. “I am leading MoCS to contest against Taib,” he said.

MoCS is also sponsoring candidates in Marudi, Krian and Bukit Saban.

Salleh said that several ex-Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB) leaders including another former deputy education minister Bujang Ulis are regrouping to support him against Taib whom they believe has overstayed his welcome.

“Several ex-PBB leaders are joining me to fight and answer the call of the silent majority,” he said, pointing out that these former leaders want to see change in the state.

“We want to fight him (Taib) because of his policy of ‘for me and my cronies’ rather than for the people. There is no government for the people and by the people at present.

“They are a bunch of robbers who have been taking away NCR (native customary right) land from the people,” he said, adding that he has documentary evidence to prove his allegations.

Salleh claimed that he was once approached by Taib’s sister to sell a plot of NCR land measuring 17,000 hectares owned by the natives.

“I didn’t want to do it,” he said. “We don’t want to join them because there is massive corruption and abuse of power in Taib’s government.”

“And if Taib is wrong, we must fight and remove him,” he added, citing the uprising in the Arab world.

Salleh, who was once time tipped to take over the leadership of PBB in the early days, has been in politics since 1963. He served as state assemblyman for Dalat, Balingian and MP for Mukah.

His fall-out with Taib began in 1987 when he joined the “Maju group” which wanted to topple Taib in the well-known “Ming Court” affair.

Since then Salleh and other PBB leaders including Bujang Ulis and Wan Habib, the late Wan Yusuf Tuanku Bujang and the late Abang Yusuf Puteh became Taib’s bitter enemies.

Several times, these leaders wanted to return to PBB, but Taib opposed their applications. - FMT