The full list of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB)Youth Exco is finally out revealing 13 newly-appointed members and what party delegates describe as "clearly a case of winners-take-all".
A group closely identified with a senior party leader behind much of the recent changes former Youth deputy leader Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, the assistant minister in the chief minister's office eventually saw Asajaya assemblyperson Abdul Karim Abdul Rahman Hamzah become the deputy Youth leader without contest. This followed an obvious compromise deal with the sole contender, Ibrahim Baki.
The group, said to be part of a larger group within the party backing PBB senior vice- president and Minister of Agriculture and Food Industries Adenan Satem, also put its men into key appointed posts such as secretary-general, treasurer and information chief, effectively giving them full control over the Youth wing.
Even if Ibrahim had contested against the advice of PBB deputy president and Tourism Minister Johari Tun Openg, the going would have been difficult for him despite his claims to have the endorsement of a large number of Youth divisions.
Carrots dangled
Ibrahim was said to have decided to pull out at the last minute after PBB president and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud met Johari and indicated that he would not like to see a contest for the position, in order to avoid divisions in the ranks.
Reliable sources told
malaysiakini
that the top party leadership would instead offer Ibrahim a place in the PBB supreme council.
Another carrot dangled was the possibility of Ibrahim standing for a parliamentary seat in Kuching in the next general election.
However, almost two weeks after the party convention held on July 9, no announcement has been made of any new post for Ibrahim or whether he is to be offered a place in the party's main committee.
None of the committee members identified with either Johari or Ibrahim had been appointed to any of the Youth exco posts when the full list was made available to the committee on Monday.
Waning influence
According to political observers, this indicates Johari's waning influence and the growing power of Adenan Satem, who is tipped to become chief minister after Taib.
PBB Youth leader, Douglas Uggah, is an Iban closely identified with the other deputy president Alfred Jabu, who is one of Sarawak's two deputy chief ministers and concurrently minister of land and rural development.
The Youth chief is also the deputy minister in the prime minister's department and the member of parliament for Betong.
He took over as Youth leader from Gramong Juna, formerly of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) who later joined PBB and was appointed as an assistant minister.
He has also been promised a key post in PBB and it is speculated that he will be the party's new secretary-general to replace Leonard Linggi Jugah, who resigned in April after holding office for 26 years.
Gramong has been closely identified with Leonard, which is regarded as something of a disadvantage to him because the new Iban group within PBB after Leonard's resignation appears to be increasingly aligned with Alfred Jabu.
Even though it was Leonard who first persuaded Alfred to resign from government service and join politics in the early 1970s, Alfred now seems to be distancing himself from Leonard.
Martin Ben failed to retain the PBB Youth vice-president's post reserved for the Bidayuh wing, losing to bank officer Munded Banat. Martin, also said to be close to Leonard's group, did not make it into the list of newly-appointed exco members either.
Lawyer-cum-businessman Fadillah Yusuf, brother of a successful businessman Bustari Yusuf, has been appointed as the secretary-general.
Family ties in exco
Alfred's son Gerald Rentap was appointed assistant secretary-general. It is believed that the deputy president is grooming his businessman son to take over from him when he steps down as state assemblyperson for Layar a post he first won in the 1974 election when he beat then Sarawak National Party (Snap) president and Sarawak's first post-Independence chief minister Stephen Kalong Ningkan.
Many observers feel that Douglas is being groomed to take over from Alfred as leader of the Dayak wing when the former decides to step down.
In such a scenario, speculation has it that Gerald may first stand for a parliamentary seat while Douglas returns to Sarawak and stands for a state seat.
Alfred's wife Impiang, a New Zealand graduate and a former teacher, is also believed to be a possible election candidate in the near future. She is the current deputy chief of the PBB women's wing.
Other office bearers
The post of Youth treasurer went to Robert Chuat, one of Impiang's nephews, while the assistant treasurer is Abang Ismawi Abang Ali.
Buang Bolhassan is the new information chief and Dr Philip Raja, an Orang Ulu, is assistant information chief.
The remaining four appointed posts confirmed that several of PBB senior leaders have pushed their relatives in as well.
Of the three posts allocated to the Bumiputra (Malay/Melanau wing), one went to IT software engineer Narudin Di, brother of PBB acting secretary-general and an assistant minister Bolhassan Di.
The remaining posts went to Abdul Aziz Adenan, son of Adenan Satem, and Othman Bujang, described as "the best loser" in the recent Youth polls.
The four appointed Youth exco posts reserved for the Dayak(Iban/Bidayuh/Orang Ulu wing) went to Bill Agan, a long-time PBB Iban leader, Alvin Jimbun, son of a former member of parliament James Jimbun, Alex Benet Ait and Denis Ngau Jok.
PBB members are anxious to know who is to be appointed the new secretary-general and whether the present treasurer Awang Tengah will be re-appointed.
Gramong, in agreeing to give way to Douglas, is most likely to be appointed as the new secretary-general. Taib may also elevate him to a full ministerial position.
He did not hide his disappointment among close friends when, after the last state election, he was not promoted to a full minister and Taib upgraded Michael Manyin, a Bidayuh, from assistant minister to a full minister instead.
Breaking tradition
Detractors said Gramong may not get to become secretary-general although no other key appointed posts have been mentioned.
Despite it being no secret that some bumiputra senior leaders are hoping the chief minister will appoint one of them, Taib is said not to be keen on breaking tradition by appointing a non-Dayak to the post.
Apart from Gramong, another name mentioned for the post is Peter Minos, a Bidayuh lawyer-cum-newspaper columnist.
Peter, a former president of the Dayak Bidayuh National Association, has been assistant secretary-general of PBB and was actively involved in organising the recent party convention.
At the time of writing, there was no indication as to when Taib will announce the new appointments to the PBB supreme council or when the supreme council will meet.
However, he is said to have already decided on the names to fill key party posts and will only announce these at the next PBB supreme council meeting.
Tony Thien is malaysiakini's correspondent in Sarawak.