KUALA LUMPUR – Former Sarawak governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud’s death today was reported on with less flattery by some foreign press which noted his controversies involving logging concessions and construction projects while he served as the state’s chief minister for 33 years.
Bloomberg described the 87-year-old political figure as a “tycoon” who had gained wealth by permitting Malaysia’s largest rainforests to be destroyed in the name of economic growth.
The newswire also noted Taib’s extensive infrastructure projects, which although created thousands of job opportunities and transformed the state’s economy, came at the cost of the environment.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, court filings from the early 2010s showed that Taib’s family held assets valued at over US$1 billion (approximately RM4.7 billion), which included stakes in numerous businesses, oil palm property, hotels, and office buildings.
Bloomberg noted critics who labelled Taib’s development policies as an “environmental atrocity” which caused thousands of indigenous people to leave their native forest settlements which we then cleared for projects. Although local and international critics accused him of corruption, charges have never been brought against him.
AFP sought comments from Sarawak activist Peter Kallang, the chairman of SAVE Rivers, who said the progress and development Taib brought had “a negative impact on the rainforest and indigenous population”.
“From 90% forest cover in the 1960s, today Sarawak has about 10% left of its primary forest,” Kallang said.
South China Morning Post, meanwhile, noted how Taib’s critics had accused him of “plundering” the state’s natural resources and “leveraging” his control of the state to enrich himself and his family.
He was also accused of ensuring political support for himself by dishing out infrastructure projects and investments to Sarawak’s political elite.
Singapore-based Gutzy Asia said Taib no doubt had a lasting impact on Sarawak, with his record as the state’s longest-serving chief minister before he stepped down and became Sarawak Governor.
The news website also noted his controversies, with chief among his critics the missing and presumed dead Swiss environmentalist, Bruno Manser, who personally accused Taib of destroying Sarawak’s rainforests.
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had opened 15 case files against Taib since 2015 to 2016, but said in 2018 that no action could be taken against him as there was no record of him having made decisions
In 2019, Datuk Liew Vui Keong, then-minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law), said there was no new evidence to support the resumption of MACC investigations into Taib.
Taib died at 4.40am today at a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur.
Of his departure, Professor of Asian Studies, James Chin, of the University of Tasmania in Australia was quoted by AFP saying: “Only the political elites in Sarawak will miss Taib.”
“He belongs to the generation of people like Lee Kuan Yew, Suharto, Marcos and (Tun Dr) Mahathir Mohamad. Taib believed in full political control and his legacy is smeared by his business interest through his family,” Chin said. – February 21, 2024