THE late Tan Sri Adenan Satem who died two years ago this month is still oft-mentioned in hushed and reverential tones in political circles in Sarawak.
The fifth Sarawak chief minister pleasantly surprised almost everyone (and even those beyond the state) in the short three years he succeeded his long-serving political mentor, Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, now into his second term as the state’s Yang di-Pertua Negeri.
In an appropriately fitting tribute, the first completed stretch of the Pan-Borneo Highway from Telok Melano on the western-most tip of Sarawak to Sematan (a link only added on Adenan’s insistence) will be inaugurated this weekend.
Adenan’s successor, Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Abang Openg, often spices his speeches with references to the only state chief executive to have died in office and obviously is hoping Adenan’s mantle and aura will rub off on him.
So what is it about Adenan that has inspired such widespread adulation, even awe?
Part of the man’s appeal may be attributed to the fact that he never really hankered for the job despite the fact that, as he was to amply show once in office, he clearly stood head and shoulders above almost anyone else considered for the job. That nonchalance was almost an innate personal trait of the man.
Some said Adenan harboured a deep hurt when an expectation he would take over some years earlier did not materialise.
That might or might not have explained the nonchalance but it did have a fine redeeming quality when he eventually took over. It freed him from being beholden to any political constituency or person, a rare gift few democratic leaders can claim.
Following a life-threatening heart ailment just prior to becoming chief minister, Adenan also knew that he literally was already on borrowed time and must have decided upon assuming office to be guided by nothing more than to do right by Sarawak. He kept publicly appealing — as if to the Almighty — for five years to carry out what he felt he needed to do.
Adenan’s tenure ended up feeling something like a mirage that came, hit and was gone in almost no time at all. Objectively, there was actually little by way of legislative or other concrete reforms that he was able to effect in the three years he was helming the state.
Rather, Adenan’s time in office was characterised by the power of his rhetoric, delivered with his typically disarming and self-deprecating humour, which came across as forthright and sincere and therefore struck a chord with the people for its genuine effort to be fair to all.
The years of being in the background while still being at the very centre of state power must have honed in Adenan a keen sense of the popular pulse. It was truly leadership without equal for someone to be able to make almost all Sarawakians — with their multiplicity of ethnicities — identify with him and regard him as their leader; a fact borne out by the multi-ethnic multitude that turned out for his funeral, many visibly moved and shocked into tears.
One of Adenan’s most enduring acts would have been his chutzpah in unilaterally deciding for the state to recognise the United Examinations Certificate (UEC), something which even a new Federal Government has not been able to deliver. That decision — at least to those in the Sarawak Chinese community — gave substance to his insistent telling that no community in the state is any less Sarawakian.
Unfortunately, Adenan’s premature demise meant Sarawak might have been denied an equitable yet realistic resolution to the long-standing issues surrounding Native Customary Rights land.
He was believed to have been thinking hard about the subject before his passing and only he probably would have had the standing to make any such resolution stick.
Adenan was also the leader who made the issue of greater state autonomy front and centre although here, his ultimate intention is unclear.
He demanded for the state to be treated as an “equal” founding partner of Malaysia and while that, again, resonated widely, translating it into anything practical will take some doing.
Unfortunately, Abang Johari has latched on to it and made a strident state nationalism almost his signature campaign. Adenan, to his credit, made clear taking Sarawak out of Malaysia was out of the question, something his successor has endorsed.
Ever thoughtful, Adenan — had he lived longer — might have concluded it is impossible to have the cake and eat it. Nothing less is expected from Abang Johari.
John Teo views developments in the nation, the region and the wider world from his vantage point in Kuching, Sarawak. He can be reached via johnteo808@gmail.com