KUCHING, June 20 — Sarawak human rights activist Peter John Jaban today called on the state government, Council of Customs and Traditions and the National Registration Department (NRD) to investigate and rescind the native status conferred on Toh Puan Raghad Kurdi Taib, the Syria-born wife of the current Governor Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, and her two sons from a previous relationship.
Jaban, who is also information chief of the Sarawak Association of People's Aspiration, said the native status was granted to Raghad and her two sons surfaced after Taib's children took legal action to reclaim their late mother’s assets, including shares in public-listed Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Berhad.
He added that Sarawakians are concerned about the Malaysian citizenship and native recognition for Raghad and her two foreign-born sons that mean they now have the right to own native title lands when there are local-born who are unable to inherit their ancestral lands due to strict rules.
“It is a travesty that Raghad and her two sons should be facing a future of extreme wealth and status that has been denied to so many genuine natives and, indeed, genuine Sarawakians,” Jaban said in a statement.
He said there are thousands of people born in Sarawak to native parents who remain stateless while Raghad and her sons are recognised as Melanau by race and Malaysian citizens after she married Taib.
“There are thousands more Sarawakians who are unable to inherit their ancestral lands from their native parents as they are the products of mixed marriages.
“But now we are facing the very real prospect that this Syria-born woman, with precious little connection to Sarawak other than an advantageous marriage, might walk away with a fortune in Sarawak’s wealth.
“Our current Sarawak government must prevent this from happening or face serious discord among the Sarawak people,” Jaban said.
He said applications for Sarawak’s native status come with very strict requirements, including knowledge of the culture and the language and longstanding connection to a community.
“This is verified in detail through interviewing and testing,” Jaban said, adding that in practice, the process is extremely lengthy, commonly taking up to 20 years to process.
“Clearly, Raghad has not only jumped the queue but also been given preferential treatment throughout,” he said.
Jaban said that even if native status is conferred by the NRD, the ownership of Sarawak native land requires both parents to be natives as prescribed under Chapter 61 of the Interpretation Act 2005.
He added that Sarawakians of mixed-parentage – meaning only one parent is a native – are denied the ability to inherit their ancestral lands by the Sarawak Lands and Survey Department.
Jaban said it would be a mockery of the rule of law and the right of all Malaysians for Raghad and her two sons to be allowed to inherit native lands as naturalised Malaysians and recognised Melanaus.
“I know so many people who have fallen foul of this,” he said, citing as an example a local-born farmer with one Iban parent who is currently leasing land because he does not qualify to inherit his father’s land in Lundu.
Raghad, now aged 43, was reported to have married Taib, 87, in 2010.
Taib first married Poland-born Lejla Chalek, who later adopted the name Laila Taib, in 1959. They had three children together before her death at age 68 in 2009.
Taib and Laila’s second son, Datuk Seri Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Abdul Taib who is CMS Berhad managing director, was reported by The Borneo Post last week to have sued Raghad and RHB Bank in a bid to prevent shares from an unnamed company from being transferred from a company to his stepmother.
The case is pending at the High Court.
