She noted that Adenan had tried to distance himself from his predecessor, Abdul Taib Mahmud. However, the fact that Taib was made the governor of the state, and still maintained a strong hold on the state’s economy, proved otherwise.
“Adenan is a politician so he has done the obvious thing, which is to say ‘I’m not Taib’. He has made some obvious and astute gestures in order to curry favour. He’s rude about Taib in public and people love that,” Rewcastle told FMT yesterday in a phone interview.
“He makes a big thing about being less grandiose and he avoids doing all the things that people loathe about Taib. So people think that’s marvellous. But they should think a little harder about Adenan’s record in office.
“He should have moved to get rid of Taib. Taib shouldn’t be sitting there as governor given his record, and his companies shouldn’t be receving favours which they still are.”
She said Adenan and Taib had worked hand-in-hand throughout the former’s political life, and Adenan had also supported and stood by all Taib’s actions, playing the role of a “trusted lieutenant” which later saw him rewarded with the highest post in Malaysia’s largest state.
She gave several examples including the fact that issues of rampant logging were still taking place despite Adenan’s promises to end them after taking office in 2014. She said the Barisan Nasional was still being financed by its business cronies and the same logging concerns were far too close to the government in Sarawak.
Rewcastle, who set up Sarawak Report in 2010, has published extensive reports on deforestation in Sarawak and on the financial dealings and fortunes of then chief minister Taib. The federal government has blocked access to the website after she published reports on the financial dealings and investments of federal investment arm 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
She said when Adenan had taken over, he gave the appearance that he would be more liberal. “However the opposition is immediately denounced, so no change there,” she said. Members of opposition parties from the peninsula were denied entry into the state, on the grounds that they might incite hatred which would then lead to a call for secession as a reason.
“He’s getting up to exactly the same old outrageous tricks that Taib did. He’s playing the same game, saying and preaching for change but predictably doing exactly what he has always done.
“If they (BN leaders) address public concerns, provide the people with a fair, good governance, then the people wouldn’t be saying these things. Voluntary unions that are created under a democratic structure allow for people to say out loud if they’re not happy with the union.”
Sarawak will go to the polls in a state general election expected next month. Adenan has asked voters to give him a five-year mandate of his own, after taking over from Taib, who had ruled the state for 33 years.