The battle for Sarawak’s hearts and minds moved up one gear when its Chief Minister, Taib Mahmud, entered the cyber-battle arena with a proliferation of near identical sites about Sarawak, all praising himself and BN.This is Taib venturing to do battle with Clare Rewcastle Brown, the author of ‘Sarawak Report’. ‘Sarawak Report’ is a website which is dedicated to listing Taib’s billions, which he sequestered from the state, through three decades of rule.
Taib’s sites have a two pronged effect. The first is to present soviet-style propaganda items about Taib ‘developing’ the state. The second aims to discredit ‘Sarawak Report’.
It is alleged that the master-mind of Taib’s cyber-war campaign, is Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu’s (PBB) Information Youth Chief, Abdul Aziz Adenan Satem. Abdul Aziz is the son of Adenan Satem, Taib’s PBB Information Chief – once married to Taib’s sister Zainab. This is Taib’s trademark. He keeps matters all within the family.
One of Taib’s websites, set up within the past few days, exploits Clare’s ‘Sarawak Report’ by producing a cheap knock-off, of the original. Everything Taib does for the Sarawak people and for Sarawak is of poor quality, unlike what he manages to achieve for himself.
Unsuspecting people eager to learn about Taib’s corruption may have inadvertently typed in this knock-off site. This imitation site will only promote Taib and BN’s achievements in Sarawak. Nothing will be mentioned of the land grabs and abuse of the Sarawakians.
Taib is a bully and likes to get his own way. He is trying to undermine Clare’s disclosures about Taib’s corruption. Taib is also desperate and is trying to distract attention from the detailed list of Taib’s crimes against the state.
Taib’s cyber-war has received its first casualty - the proof-reader on the Borneo Post payroll. He was sacked in accordance with a directive which originated from Taib’s office.
It appears that the employee had made a genuine error, and mistakenly corrected the knock-off title, thinking it was a spelling error perhaps. He then renamed the website to www.sarawakreport.org, which is Clare’s website which exposes Taib’s corruption and abuses.
Taib’s efforts at cyber-weaponry, to promote himself were undermined as online readers flocked to the original ‘Sarawak Report’.
No employee should be treated in such an offhand manner. But Taib is not a normal employer. Taib is ruthless, with a family and cronies who are willing to defend him. They will use physical and verbal assaults, if neccessary.
Last August, the veteran editor of the Sarawak Tribune who published the damming article on Taib, called “Is Taib Mahmud testing the waters?” received a blistering reprimand from Hanifah, Taib’s daughter, which lasted till the early hours of the morning.
In addition to the verbal onslaught, Paul Si was suspended for a couple of weeks with rumours that he was possibly sacked. Hanifah had no official designation with the paper.
People like Taib are not just addicted to power, they are also vain and are desperate to learn what people think of them. Unfortunately, they only like to hear nice things being said about them.
A few months later, in November, the ‘Sarawak Report’ photographer was assaulted by an employee of Taib’s family. The photographer was taking pictures of people entering and leaving their posh apartment in London’s uptown Hyde Park.
The Taib family’s driver came out of Taib’s black Mercedes and grabbed the photographer by her neck and forced her to erase the photographs contained in her camera until she was rescued by an onlooker.
The Taibs do not appreciate their whereabouts or possessions being publicised. Violence and intimidation also inhabit their personal lives.
‘Sarawak Report’ is doing a good job in unnerving Taib. Taib is used to tangible forms of opposition where he can slur, discredit, intimidate, imprison or eliminate if necessary.
Taib seems lost when it comes to fighting in cyber-`space. He looks like a tired, mangy old horse which should have been put out to pasture a long time ago.
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