Taib will step down promises Najib

'Believe me, in me, at the right timing, this will be done,' said Najib.

KUCHING: Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak today promised Sarawakian voters that unpopular Chief Minister Taib Mahmud will step down as promised in an apparent bid to maintain Barisan Nasional rule in its “fixed deposit” state.

Najib’s assurance proved speculation that his administration viewed Taib as a liability and came amid intense speculation that he will not step down despite having served as CM for 30 years, the longest serving CM for any states in the country’s history.

“I have discussed with the Sarawak CM and he has agreed to have a leadership change in Sarawak,” Najib told some 1,000 audience at a BN event here.

“Believe me, in me, at the right timing, this will be done,” added the premier.

Taib had previously said he would step down after putting in a young team of successors, which he had said could be in the mid-term after the April 16 polls.

But he gave no definite timeline to what he claimed to be a “smooth transition plan”, triggering waves of speculation that the move was merely an election gimmick.

The sense of uncertainty around Taib’s future was growing further when he confirmed that he will defend his Balingian seat.

Pakatan has old leaders too

Najib took pains to reassure voters here that the leadership change will take place and said there was no need to hasten the transition plan.

“There is no need to be hasty and be fooled by the oppositions’ words,” he said, referring to Pakatan Rakyat’s fervent and aggressive anti-Taib campaign.

He said the opposition too have leaders who have overstayed their welcome like the DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and Kelantan PAS Mentri Besar Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

“They just don’t want to admit it,” blasted the premier.

Najib’s fate and future plans for the nation depends on the outcome of the Sarawak polls which will act as a gauge to the support he has and whether or not he could call for snap polls.

BN lost its customary two-thirds parliamentary majority in the 2008 polls and Najib will need a bigger mandate this time around to prove his mettle as his liberal economic reform plans face opposition from within his own camp.

Pakatan is confident that it can get at least 15 seats or eight more from the seven it won in 2006 Sarawak state polls.

This will be strong enough to send a protest signal to the Najib administration that its dominance in Malaysian politics is gone as Pakatan’s influence expands to Sarawak, the “vote bank” that stood in Pakatan’s way towards Putrajaya in 2008. - FMT