he was, wrote back to say that he was
disappointed but he wished me luck.
After that exchange, I decided to
join politics and run for elections as
a member of SNAP. I was among the
first Iban to have a university degree.
A friend of mine, Daniel Tajem, was the
first Iban to have a legal degree. And
another friend of mine who has passed
away now, Dr Jawi Masing, was the first
Iban to have a medical degree. The three
of us decided we had better join politics;
we joined the opposition party because
SNAP was seen in those days to be the
voice of the Dayak community. We had
very idealistic ideas that we had roles
to play and that we might be able to
change things.”
On Tun Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Temenggong Jugah, the Minister for
Sarawak Affairs (1963 – 1974)
“I was accompanying him one time on
a visit to a particular longhouse. You
will remember that before he became
a Minister, he was a Penghulu first, then
a Temenggong, and therefore he was
a highly-respected community leader.
When we visited this particular longhouse, the people still looked to him as
a penghulu. They brought their small
dispute to him for him to mediate. And
Jugah being Jugah (he was quite a charismatic person), when he heard the two
sides arguing with each other, he only
said, “Why don’t you people keep on
talking? I will go to the room and sleep.
Sometimes, you have to deal with very
ordinary, simple matters, not high policy stuff.
But even in cases like that, where it touches
people directly, in order to solve it, you first
need to earn people’s respect and trust.
When you are ready with a resolution,
call me back.” That stopped them. He
knew their psychology. He knew how to
keep them in line. He was well respected
and had earned the trust of the people.
Sometimes, you have to deal with very
ordinary, simple matters, not high policy
stuff. But even in cases like that, where
it touches people directly, in order to
solve it, you first need to earn people’s
respect and trust.”
On serving as a Federal Minister under
Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr. Mahathir
Mohamad
“I’m fortunate in that I had the chance
of working directly under Tun Hussein as well as Tun Dr Mahathir. I only
worked briefly with Tun Abdullah, from
October 2003 until April 2004 but we
had been colleagues in the Cabinet for
a number of years when he was Foreign
Minister. I owe a lot to Tun Hussein because he appointed me