Part 2 of an interview with Sarawak Governor and wife
THE Head of State, Tun Pehin Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, and his wife, Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Fauziah Mohd Sanusi, were featured in a special interview on TVS’ Dialog TVS. Moderated by Najib Imran and Khairunnisa Kasnoon, the hour-long programme provides viewers with a rare and intimate look into Wan Junaidi’s personal journey and experiences beyond his distinguished official role.
Najib: Do you feel there’s a difference in how you interact with friends now, compared to when you were a state assemblyman, a minister, and now as the TYT?
Wan Junaidi: Yes. We have to remember that as TYT, I must uphold the dignity of the position. Astana and the institution it represents must always be respected. However, that doesn’t mean the Astana prevents me from mingling with the community — there are just certain boundaries.
If anyone crosses those boundaries, I will distance myself. But people from the streets — those familiar faces — already understand these boundaries because they’ve known me for so long.
From my time as an ordinary MP to becoming a deputy minister, they have observed the protocols themselves. Even when I sit inside the coffee shop with my family, my old friends from the streets never sit with me. They respect that space.
Najib: Tun, could you share how your love for reading began? How did it become not just a hobby but almost a habit?
Wan Junaidi: The story of how I became an avid reader is actually quite long. Even before I started school — when I was still too young to attend — I had already learned to read Jawi because of my early studies in Muqaddam and the Quran.
I was taught to read Jawi at home, so by the time I learned to read, my family encouraged me to read aloud. Back in the 1950s, we didn’t have radios, let alone television, so our main source of entertainment was reading books — especially syair (poetic verses).
When I started school, I only spent three years in Primary 1 to 4 because I skipped a grade. My teachers saw that I could already read and write well, especially in Jawi, which was the main medium of education at the time. I spent only a few months in Primary 1 before skipping to Primary 2. My time in Primary 2 was less than a year, and I completed Primary 3 and 4 in full.
Then, in Primary 5, the medium of instruction switched entirely to English, and I faced a huge challenge. I didn’t understand a single word. I had to start learning from scratch, buying different books and studying from Oxford Exercise Books meant for younger students.
I struggled to catch up on four years’ worth of English education in just three years. My school, Abang Man’s Pioneer School, offered Higher Primary (Primary 5 and 6), but students from other schools in Batang Sadong had already been exposed to English. I had not.
To improve, I became a member of the Sarawak Library, which was located inside the museum back then. Every day during break time, I would go to the library, borrow books, and read. My reading habits shifted—from syair and hikayat (folk tales) to Oxford English books for Primary levels.
By the time I reached Form 1, 2, and 3, I had transitioned to reading books like Battle of Britain and Enid Blyton. These were popular among young readers at the time, though I couldn’t afford to buy books myself.
Even during my time in the Police Field Force, I carried Reader’s Digest with me. I would reread the articles, Quotable Quotes, and vocabulary sections multiple times while on duty in the jungle.
When I became a Member of Parliament, my reading habits expanded because I could finally afford to buy books. I became a member of the Sarawak Centre for Management, which gave me access to management books. That’s when I started collecting books.
Even today, I continue reading, but I read for knowledge rather than just to finish books. I often reread books two or three times, flipping back to previous pages to fully understand the historical context.
For instance, I’m currently reading The Return of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. It’s the second series after The Legend of the Condor Heroes, which has four volumes—each about 700 to 800 pages. This current series has about 400 pages. A new volume comes out every year, so I have to wait patiently for the next one.
If I’m not busy, I can finish a book like this in two weeks.
I used to subscribe to all the newspapers. My bedside was piled up with them. But I never had to tell my children, “Hey, you should read.” I never taught them to read explicitly.
They simply saw me reading every day. They’d walk into my room and see me reading the newspaper. The next time, they’d see me reading a book. And naturally, they started following.
Parents are the role models for their children. That’s why, whenever I took my children to the mall, the first place we’d go was always the bookstore.
Khairunnisa: We’ve also had the opportunity to join you and Toh Puan in your mini garden. So, Tun, why did you choose gardening as one of your hobbies?
Wan Junaidi: You have to remember, I was born in Kampung Pendam. It’s a coastal village where people didn’t become fishermen. The village had a mix of Malay, Bugis, and Javanese residents. The arrival of the Bugis and Javanese influenced the Malays to become land people, not river or sea people. So, life there revolved around farming.
My grandfather had a piece of land over 14 hectares in Pendam, fully planted with coconut and coffee trees. We never had to buy coffee.
We grew coffee, guava, and citrus fruits. The large citrus fruit people now call pomelo—we used to call it ‘limau wangkang’. The modern name is ‘limau bali’.
We also had ‘jambu bol’. ‘Jambu bol’ is rare—it’s round and white inside, with a sour taste. We had plenty of those trees, along with banana trees and many others.
So, for daily needs, apart from salt and chilli, we didn’t have to go out to buy anything. At home, my grandmother always planted chillies and other small crops.
I planted ulam raja too. Then, when I learned about the moringa tree, known as the miracle tree, I started planting it. I had two or three trees before, but many got cut down.
I also planted tamarind. I went to Perlis, got tamarind seeds, and just scattered them around. Now, there are plenty of tamarind trees.
There was a time when I was really interested in guava, so I planted some. I used to go to Pasar Satok, saw some plants, bought them, and planted them.
Najib: Tun shared yesterday that you lost your father at the age of eight. What we would like to know is, what were some of the challenges you faced, and who were the people that gave you the strength to become who you are today?
Wan Junaidi: My father came from a lineage of people who governed the land, so his demeanour was quite different from that of ordinary folks. He received a religious education like most people, though he wasn’t an Islamic scholar.
On my mother’s side, however, my grandfather was different. He was part of the second generation that migrated from Kalimantan. His father came to Sarawak bringing many religious books, meaning he arrived as a preacher.
He passed down that missionary spirit, and because of that, he had extensive knowledge of religious matters. His guidance shaped me significantly, especially since my father passed away when I was very young.
But even in those short years, I had many experiences with my father. He was an expert seafarer and a skilled fisherman—though not just any fisherman. He had a variety of techniques that didn’t require a large crew. He could do everything himself. He built fish traps, including one called ‘kilung’, which is a type of structure designed to funnel fish into a central enclosure.
Besides that, he was an excellent diver. He could stay underwater for up to two minutes without coming up for air, without even using goggles. He used to dive for oysters—what we called ‘sampi’—in the rocky areas of Triso.
He was a true mariner. At one point, he even captained a schooner owned by a businessman named Aju in Pendam. It was a two-masted vessel, and he commanded it with the help of two other sailors.
Growing up, I observed all of this. Even though I was very young, I absorbed everything. He had his own philosophies, one of which he instilled in me early on:
“If someone asks you to do something, don’t immediately say you can’t. Try first.”
I remember this lesson clearly because of a simple childhood moment. I used to love eating roti Mary, also known as ‘roti keben’. Back in the 1950s, there were only two types—sweet and savoury. I only liked the sweet one. One day, my father told me to try the savoury one, and I flat-out refused.
That’s when he gave me a life lesson. I was still very young, not even in school yet, but he told me:
“Junaidi, next time, don’t say no before trying. Taste it first. If, after finishing one, you still don’t like it, then fine. But never say something isn’t good just because you’ve never tried it. Other people eat it, so it must be good for someone.”
That same principle applied to work. He would say:
“If you need to climb a hill, climb it first. Even if you fall a few times, keep trying. If, after all your effort, you truly can’t do it, then fine—but at least you tried.”
These were the kinds of lessons he taught me.
Meanwhile, my maternal grandfather had a religious perspective on things. He would say:
“If you don’t want to eat something, don’t say it’s not good. That’s wrong in Islam. It’s still food, and others eat it. If it’s halal, don’t speak of it as if it isn’t.”
So I was raised by a mother who strongly believed in education — reading, learning and following in the footsteps of her own father, who loved studying, reciting the Quran, and praying. My household was full of people who could recite the Quran fluently.
My mother was my biggest supporter. She made sure I learned, and she never compromised on the importance of education.
I wrote about this in my book — one particular morning that stuck with me. Some accounts say I was playing ‘gasing’ (spinning tops), but that’s not quite accurate.
We lived in a raised house, and underneath was an open area where children would usually play. That morning, instead of going to my Quran lessons at Haji Kholek’s house—he was a well-known religious teacher in Kampung Pendam—I was just standing around outside.
My mother didn’t hear me reciting my lessons, so she came down and found me there. She didn’t scold me, but instead, she held up a hammer and said:
“Junaidi, look at this hammer. Do you know what happens to people who don’t learn? They’re only useful as ‘umpan alir’.”
Now, ‘umpan alir’ is a term used in Triso, Lingga, and Sebuyau for bait used to catch crocodiles. Essentially, she was saying that a person without knowledge is as good as bait—useless and expendable.
She wasn’t threatening me; she was motivating me in her own way. That moment left a deep impression on me. It made me realise that knowledge is everything, and that’s why I committed myself to learning.
Khairunnisa: Perhaps Tun could share with us what your expectations and hopes are for the people of Sarawak in the next five years?
Wan Junaidi: Well, here’s the thing. Looking at what the Honourable Premier of Sarawak, Abang Johari, has been working on, everything is heading towards one direction — intellectual development, knowledge and technology. So, in this context, if the children of Sarawak want to grow and keep up with the progress that is being planned and will b
e implemented by the current Premier, Abang Johari, it must start with education.
It starts in schools, and it continues in universities. I am proud to be the chancellor of two universities, namely Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) and University of Technology Sarawak (UTS).
UNIMAS has its own mission, goals, and specialised courses. At the same time, we can see that UTS focuses heavily on technology, engineering, science, mathematics, and things like that.
So, for the children of Sarawak who want to get involved, who want to be part of the driving force and not just bystanders, they need to study, continue their education, and learn what the government is pushing for.
Abang Johari is not someone who only understands macro issues. Some leaders know macro issues, but they may not be well-versed in micro issues. There are leaders who don’t understand the details of the very things they speak about. But Abang Johari is different. He understands both the macro and the micro.
He is knowledgeable about both. He can’t be easily deceived—don’t try to fool Abang Johari. He knows because he reads and educates himself. He not only understands the broad policies, but he also understands the fine details of what he plans to do. He has become a subject matter expert in the areas he handles at the macro level.
So, in this situation, young people in Sarawak today are given many opportunities — new schools, universities and English language training. These opportunities are created through the Sarawak Foundation, which also runs special English-language schools.
I hope that they will go on to become pioneers in fields like engineering, technical skills, and technology. Some of them might even study at Cambridge, or they might receive their education at local universities.
Furthermore, Abang Johari also sees that, with the approval of the federal government for the Public Works Department (PWD), we should be grateful to the federal government. Since 2022, it has been agreed that the PWD and Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) should become technical departments.
The larger purpose is for DID and PWD to manage federal projects in Sarawak, as we want autonomy. If we want autonomy, we must be able to develop our own human capital.
If the children of Sarawak are careless, distracted, and fail to seize the opportunities provided by the government for their future, then we will lose out. Sarawak will have to look elsewhere to hire people.
So, in that sense, I hope and pray that the children of Sarawak will go to school, study hard, attend university, and acquire the knowledge of the future. Don’t be tempted by shortcuts to success. It’s not just about getting into a university easily. No, we must struggle first to get to the top.
We have to work hard now, so we can enjoy the results later. The difficult subjects like technical skills, mathematics, English, and science must be mastered.
Najib: So the children of Sarawak must listen to this advice. They must master STEM. Mastering STEM is essential to face the upcoming global challenges.
