In accepting to officially pick up the mantle of her dearly loved and recently departed husband, Puan Sri Jamilah Anu, the widow of Sarawak’s fifth chief minister, the late Tan Sri Adenan Satem, is in august and not altogether rare company, especially in this part of the world.
Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, Corazon Aquino and Gloria Arroyo in the Philippines, Megawati Sukarnoputri in Indonesia, Indira Gandhi in India, Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan, Sheikh Hasina Wazed and Khaleda Zia in Bangladesh and Sirimavo Bandaranaike and daughter Chandrika Kumaratunga in Sri Lanka and a few other female world leaders scattered around the globe all stepped into the leadership void left by their respective husbands or fathers.
Most stepped in reluctantly and ill-prepared after assassinated or otherwise deceased larger-than-life leaders. They went on, and in Suu Kyi’s and Sheikh Hasina’s cases, still go on to make quite a name for themselves in high office.
Jamilah may or may not attain high political office once she is elected (more or less a foregone conclusion) tomorrow into her husband’s Tanjong Datu state seat. That, however, is besides the point.
Her candidacy has raised questions about the appropriateness of fielding relatives to fill in the constituencies of departed elected representatives in our democracy. There are, of course, many criteria other than strict technical competence or political experience that go into any decision to field any particular candidate for an election.
The very nature of electoral democracy is such that strong emotional attachment by voters to a leader in high regard suddenly and unexpectedly taken away by an untimely death is a powerful consideration that goes into any decision on successor candidates.
In fact, in our democracy, such instances, though rare, are not restricted to the female gender alone. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak is a prime example. He was only in his mid-20s when his prime-ministerial father unexpectedly passed away in 1976 and he was inducted as the candidate to personally carry the torch for the late Tun Abdul Razak Hussein. He still needed to prove himself through progressively climbing the political ranks, and he succeeding his father as prime minister was still not a certainty when it finally happened more than 30 years later.
In the case of Jamilah, she is, of course, not just the seen but unheard consort beside a hugely popular chief minister. As health issues slowed down Adenan, burdened by the pressures of high office, Jamilah was a constant and reassuring presence beside him, even in the office. She even deputised for her husband in some politically necessary constituency work.
Jamilah’s own people skills are formidable. Known for her down-to-earth style, this writer (as an obscure officer) personally first came into contact with her when she accompanied her husband on a visit to the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation more than 20 years ago.
When Jamilah became political first lady, this writer was being introduced to her husband at the high table of a banquet when she turned around to get a closer look-over and remarked how I still looked the same as decades before!
Jamilah is, therefore, a worthy official torchbearer for her husband, who endeared himself to so many Sarawakians across the board for his politically inclusive policies and public statements.
Tanjong Datu, composed of several sleepy seaside settlements, is almost quintessentially representative of Sarawak in all her diversity. Its sizeable communities of Malay, Iban and Chinese constituents mean candidates vying to be its elected representative must necessarily make campaign pitches that appeal to such a diverse electorate.
In a testament to the high regard of even political foes accorded to the late chief minister, none of the major opposition parties is fielding a candidate to oppose Jamilah. Instead, two fringe parties are putting in candidates and spouting campaign lines that are clearly populist and even narrowly ethnically-targeted.
But, such is the bane of electoral politics that the two opposition candidates are bound to draw away some inevitable disgruntled votes with their decidedly downbeat campaign messages. Ultimately, though, they will just succeed in highlighting that only politically inclusive sales pitches will win the day.
The political legacy of Adenan has taken not only Sarawak by storm, but also captured the national imagination. His successor, Datuk Abang Johari Abang Openg, keeps stressing at every turn that he will be guided by that legacy.
Jamilah, in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly, will be a potent and poignant reminder that the flame her husband lit will not be dimmed.
John Teo views developments in
the nation, the region and the wider world from his vantage point in
Kuching, Sarawak