When Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem launched an all-out war against illegal logging last year, it showed his zero tolerance for the practice and earned him merit and praises from environmentalists, observers and Sarawakians.
Nevertheless, there were quarters who were unimpressed with his efforts to stamp out the practice, which is closely associated with corruption in Kuching.
Critics were quick to judge that his ongoing war against timber thieves was just a push for his election campaign for the next state polls, since the mandate for the present administration will expire in eight months.
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak Vice-Chancellor Professor Datuk Dr Mohamad Kadim Suaidi poured cold water on the remarks by Adenan’s detractors, adding that the accusations were not true.
Kadim said, contrary to what
the detractors have been saying, Adenan had been consistent in preserving the state’s natural treasures from the beginning of his political career.
“Ever since he was voted in as a state assemblyman in 1979, he had shown great interest in the importance of establishing a mechanism to ensure forests in Sarawak were protected,” said Kadim when he reasoned the university’s decision to confer on Adenan an Honorary Doctorate in Environmental Conservation in the university’s upcoming 19th convocation on Saturday.
Kadim recalled that when Adenan was the representative for the then Muara Tuang state constituency, he was the first assemblyman to raise concern over environmental issues in state legislative assembly sittings.
His significant involvement in preserving nature, perhaps, became one of the reasons behind his appointment as then natural resources and environment minister (a post currently held by Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, who is also from Sarawak) after he won the Batang Sadong parliamentary constituency in the 2004 General Election.
Adenan continued to press on the importance of environmental conservation when he returned to the state and was appointed as the special functions minister in the Chief Minister’s Office.
“When he was the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board chairman, Adenan had pushed for the increase in the size of state land to be converted into forest reserves, national parks or animal sanctuaries from six per cent to 10,” Kadim said.
It is obvious that the action taken by his administration to stamp out illegal logging, which had cost the state millions of ringgit in revenue and royalties, is not a political gimmick or public relations tactic by the state Barisan Nasional.
With the last quarter of the year coming to an end, Adenan has been going around and out of Sarawak dropping hints that the state election is around the corner, triggering fear among opposition parties which, according to pundits, are in shambles over issues pertaining to principles and seat distribution.
While state DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen, who was re-elected to the post in the party’s state ordinary convention, tried to maintain an image of confidence, it is a known secret that the party is at loggerheads with PKR.
The plan by DAP to contest 40 state seats, including constituencies in the rural areas and interior, is likely to irk PKR and throw a spanner in the loose cooperation between the two main opposition parties in the state.
Time is running out for the opposition parties to resolve the tension among them, with speculation rife that the state election would be called in the first quarter of next year, likely in March.
Many political observers are of the opinion that March would be the most appropriate time to call for the state polls since Adenan will be celebrating his second year anniversary as the chief minister and that voters will be in a festival mood and have a clear conscience since the Chinese New Year celebration will be over by then.
A total of 1,109,134 registered voters are expected to cast their votes on who will be elected to 82 state seats, including the 11 additional seats proposed under the Sarawak redelineation exercise.
As Adenan’s popularity continues to grow, he is expected to lead the Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu and BN in Sarawak to victory. Another BN component party in the state — Parti Rakyat Sarawak, led by its president, Tan Sri James Jemut Masing — is also expected to perform well in the state polls.
Concerns, however, have been raised over the other BN components parties in the state, namely the Sarawak United People’s Party and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party.
The two parties have yet to resolve their issues with unhappy leaders and members, who have abandoned the parties to form the United People’s Party and Parti Tenaga Rakyat Sarawak.
The four parties must resolve their bickering and come together to form a stronger front for Sarawak BN, which in turn will help Adenan to secure a new mandate to carry out more development programmes for the people of the Land of the Hornbills.
The writer is NST’s Sarawak bureau chief