Why blame Taib Mahmud alone?

April 11, 2011

By all accounts he and his family have staggering wealth, wealth that could feed Sarawakians for ages.

By all accounts, Taib Mahmud’s baggage is Malaysia’s worst kept secret, everyone from a hawker in Kuala Lumpur to the Cabinet in Putrajaya knew about the list of negatives against him for many years.

That is why the Najib administration urged the Sarawak leader to announce that he would step down as chief minister even before nomination day.

That is why it is a bit of a joke now to hear all the Barisan Nasional leaders complaining about how Taib has become an election liability.

Last night, the prime minister tried to convince the voters that Taib would be going sooner rather than later. Najib Razak showed unusual desperation and if one closed your eyes and heard his words could have been forgiven into thinking that the scene was Cairo and not Kuching.

Najib sounded like the military generals who were also trying to appease the people baying for Hosni Mobarak’s resignation.

In all likelihood, Taib will have to go sooner than later. But here is something we should all ponder: if the allegations against Taib are true, was he alone? Could he have done all the dastardly things by himself? Or was he ably assisted by the state ministers and the Federal government?

There is no doubt that Taib was powerful but he could not have done the things he is accused of without the help of his ministers and the federal government. After all, it is not like he is the only one living in the lap of luxury. So they were accomplices.

At worst, they turned the other way to his alleged transgressions, not wanting to upset the man who had delivered Sarawak as a solid voting bloc for BN.

In essence, this is the issue: are the other men and women who are wearing the blue of BN and seeking re-election also responsible for the “lopsided development” in Sarawak today?

If they are, is the removal of the chief minister a panacea of all ills in the state?

* Othman Wahab reads The Malaysian Insider.