A SOCIAL media post by Sarawakian netizen Leeroy Ting (@LeeroyTing) has gotten Malaysians fascinated over the degree of wealth that Malaysian politicians could have amassed during their term in office (though it must be caveated that some could have been personal wealth).
“This is just the beginning. We’re about to see the biggest inheritance dispute saga in the history of East Malaysia,” tweeted the supposedly Universiti Malaya law graduate in the aftermath of the demise of Sarawak’s longest serving chief minister Tun Taib Mahmud early yesterday (Feb 21).
“Between Tun Taib’s siblings, biological children, and Toh Puan Raghad (Kurdi Taib) and her sons from her previous marriage. What happens to Tun Taib’s billion-ringgit empire (allegedly worth ~RM64 bil) will now be of immense public interest.”
This is just the beginning. We’re about to see the biggest inheritance dispute saga in the history of East Malaysia.
Between Tun Taib’s siblings, biological children, and Toh Puan Raghad and her sons from her previous marriage. https://t.co/e5hYIXAiJQ
— Leeroy Ting (@LeeroyTing) February 21, 2024
Leeroy Ting’s tweet on X (previously Twitter) which has garnered 1.3 million views at the time of writing had netizen Wild Orchid (@Orkid_Hutan_) highlighting that there is already a “precedent” from the Tan Sri Jamaluddin Jarjis’s (JJ) inheritance dispute between his elderly mother and his widow-children.
(Editor’s note: It has been more than eight years and the dispute over the late JJ’s RM2.1 bil estate has remained unresolved with recent news reports stating that the parties involved in the inheritance despite would proceed to go to trial.)
This prompted netizen zakwan (@zach1ZA) to reckon that the Taib inheritance saga could turn out to be something of gargantuan magnitude.
This led to the question as to how “so many ex-ministers have billion-dollar empires while so many remain poor in Malaysia”.
There are many more witty comments but given the constraints of space and time, FocusM shall leave its viewers with some that are worth pondering:
For the record, watchdogs such as the Bruno Manser Fund – named after the rainforest and human rights campaigner who went missing in Sarawak in 2000 – have alleged as far back as 2012 that Taib is worth US$15 bil (RM72 bil at current exchange rate of US$1 = RM4.80) with his wealth gained through logging, agriculture and construction businesses hidden by nominating family or political proxies.
The squabble over inheritance that has even started towards the tail-end of the former Sarawak chief minister who reigned for 33 years (1981-2014) was well-encapsulated by the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
In death, the rancour between Taib’s younger Syrian wife – accused of moving the ailing Taib – and his two sons will only likely deepen as they continue a court dispute over his vast wealth.
Raghad is currently embroiled in a lawsuit brought by Taib’s two sons, Mahmud Abu Bekir and Sulaiman Abdul Rahman, over the patriarch’s wealth.
The men are seeking to stop the transfer of shares to her held by their father in Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS), a sprawling conglomerate founded during his earlier three-decade rule as Sarawak chief minister.
In their lawsuit, the brothers questioned the authenticity of Taib’s signature on documents transferring ownership of the shares to Raghad.
But as grief and condolences poured out, some were quick to raise a reminder of the alleged excesses of Taib’s long rule of Sarawak, which last year had a gross domestic product US$30.5 billion, according to state government data, from under US$1 billion in 1981 when Taib first took over as chief minister. – Feb 22,2024
Main pic credit: Free Malaysia Today
