KUCHING: Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang is a proven test of dedication and loyalty, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Johari Bin Tun Openg said.
The Chief Minister said he and other leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had learned a lot from the sacrifices of Datuk Patinggi Alfred Jabu especially during the 1987 crisis.
“No leader can do that because sometime the No. 2 leader wants the No.1 leader to go, but not Datuk Patinggi Jabu,” the Chief Minister said at the launching of Jabu’s biography ‘Alfred Jabu Anak Numpang Dedication & Loyalty Beyond Compare” authored by Professor Dr Rokiah Talib, at Hilton Hotel Kuching on Tuesday. “That is the culture that is now being embedded in PBB – Shared Responsibility and Shared Leadership between Datuk Patinggi Jabu and Datuk Patinggi Taib.
The two were the leaders in front. And that becomes the culture of PBB until today,” he explained. According to Johari because the culture started by Jabu and Taib, leaders after them now willingly follow that culture. “It is not a forced culture but an evolution. That culture that evolved from the right leadership where the leadership shared responsibility and a leadership that is fair to every community,” he said, adding that the moment it is enforced it is not going to be sustainable.
“But in all these, Datuk Patinggi Jabu and Datuk Patinggi Taib had set the example for future leaders of PBB and for that matter for Sarawak,” he pointed out. “This is the man who has contributed to this culture in our party PBB. I cannot say for other parties but I can say for PBB that is our culture, there is no ‘tumbang and menumbang’ (pulling down one another),”Johari said, adding that personnal obessesion for power could lead party to split.
“ Datuk Patinggi Jabu has helped the rural people so much that he has his own lyrics for ‘Bekikis Bulu Betis’ which is basically to inculcate the importance of education and to get people out of poverty,”Johari said. He also shared what he had learned from the way Datuk Patinggi Jabu had groomed leaders like Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
Meanwhile, the author of the book, Professor Dr Rokiah Talib said the subject of her book is a national asset and he belongs to all Malaysians.
She said, “ Jabu as a wakil rakyat and in his position as a deputy chief minister for 42 years to serve the rakyat many a time he went beyond the call of duty to walk the extra miles into the deep interior just to serve the rakyat.”
