Why Adenan chooses business tycoons to contest polls

ANALYSIS At least five Chinese business tycoons and families members of wealthy timber merchants in the state have made their way to the candidate list of Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem.

Four of them were announced as BN direct candidates in Sibu and Sarikei, both located in central Sarawak, while another will be fielded in Bintulu, all Chinese-majority seats.

Tiong Thai King, the executive director of Rimbunan Hijau Group (RH Group), is making a comeback at the Dudong seat, where he was defeated by a slim majority of 317 votes in 2011 state election.

His elder brother Tiong Hiew King, who founded the RH Group in 1975, was in the top-ten richest person in Malaysia.

Janet Lau, the widow of former deputy transport minister Robert Lau, was announced by Adenan as Pelawan candidate.

Her husband's nephew Henry Lau is the second generation boss of KTS Group.

Both KTS and RH are part of the state's "big six" timber companies that Adenan once issued a stern warning in his effort to stem corruption, which he described as "very bad" in the timber industry.

Hotel tycoon Hii King Chiong, who runs Kingwood Hotel Group also joined the race. He will contest at Pujut seat in Miri.

Also on board are the other chosen candidates, Pau Chiong Urn for Tanjung Batu and Huang Tiong Hii for Repok.

Pau is a former two-term senator and reportedly sits in the board of directors of a timber and shipping company, while Huang is involved in timber and automotive industry.

Sarawak will be left behind

This has raised concern over how deeply business is connected to politics, said political pundit Andrew Aeria, who described it as going against the best practices in the world.

Being part of the government, he added, they will make decisions and policies that would benefit their businesses or their families.

"Why are they are so deeply involved in Sarawak politics? Well, they want to protect their interests in the state," said Aeria.

"These capitalists cannot compete in the global market. Yes, they may have businesses all over the world, but their business practice may not be in line with global standards," he said.

"That is why Sarawak practices a closed economy. That's why you see immigration control and business licensing control in Sarawak," said Aeria, who is an associate professor at Unimas' Social Science Faculty.

"This is very unfortunate because with Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the whole world are opening up their market. Sarawak will be left behind if they continue to behave like that."

Meanwhile, political analyst James Chin noted that business tycoons in Sarawak tend to invest in politics and Sarawak BN in return needs their funding.

He said the workers who are employed by these tycoons are also potential voters in the election.

The phenomenon is nothing new in Sarawak and it has always been the general practice in Malaysian politics, Chin noted.

Meanwhile, he also stressed that the phenomenon where business tycoons having control of one party is not something which is exclusive to Sarawak.

Aeria said: "The overlapping between business and politics in Sarawak is very strong and started since 1960s. It is nothing new.

"The business sponsors politics and politicians favour certain businesses, and this has been happening since the era of former chief ministers Abdul Rahman Ya'kub and Abdul Taib Mahmud, and now, Adenan."

No shame at all

Family members of Lau and Thai King are familiar faces during general and state elections.

Thai King, for one, was a four-term Lanang parliamentarian since 1995, while Robert was the Sibu MP since 1990 until his death in 2010.

After Robert's death, BN appointed Lau Hui Yew to stand in Sibu by-election and later fielded Robert's cousin Vincent Lau to contest the same seat in 2013 general election.

Aeria said the tycoons from the timber industry were the earliest to send their family members into politics, and later came the palm oil bosses and other industry players.

He said there were occasions where the business tycoons benefitted from their proxies in the government.

"There is no shame at all [...] While in other parts of the world this will not be accepted, but in Sarawak this is okay because it has been done for a long time," Aeria added.

He also pointed out that with business tycoons in the state cabinet or the state legislative assembly, the state government may be inclined to make decisions in their favour.

On the other hand, Aeria added, the people may not have benefitted and some may even have been exploited in the process.

Agreeing to this, Chin however said, Sarawakians have accepted such practice without fully being aware of the impact.

Adenan never a reformist

Chin, who is also the director of the Asia Institute, University of Tasmania, said: "The typical attitude of the people is that a tycoon needs to be rich and powerful at the same time. They don't differentiate between government and business."

While Adenan portrayed himself as a leader who pledged for integrity, Chin argued that the chief minister is never a reformist.

Adenan, who took office in February 2014, had pledged to take action against corrupt elements in the timber industry and threatened that he would bring in the Malaysia Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

He had warned the six big timber tycoons in the state not to mess with him in November 2014.

Beside KTS and RH Group, the others are Samling, Shin Yang, Ta Ann and WTK Holdings Bhd.

Adenan said he could no longer tolerate corruption as it has resulted in the state losing revenue and tarnishing its reputation internationally because “this robbery is carried out in broad daylight”.

Commenting on this, Chin said: "Don't take it seriously, it was just for the purpose of election. He doesn't believe in it anyway.

"You have to remember that Adenan was in Taib's cabinet for 30 years. If he believed in it, he would have done something long time ago."

Meanwhile, UKM's Modern Chinese History and History of Malaysia (Sarawak) senior lecturer Suffian Mansor believed Adenan had to continue with the strategy of roping in members from the business community as candidates as they enjoy strong support from the ground.

"If he revokes this type of system, there are chances he may experience an upset in the election," he said.

"Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), the biggest party led by Adenan, got enough funding, so they do not need funding from them (business tycoons)." -Mkini