Celebrating the life of Tok Nan

KUCHING: On January 11, 2017 I received the tragic news that Tan Sri Adenan Satem or “Tok Nan” had suffered a fatal heart attack at the Sarawak Heart Centre in Kota Samarahan.
It was a shock for the nation, but somehow, I knew it was coming.
The signs were there — in the years leading up to it he had suffered several heart attacks and once in Singapore his heart stopped twice but thanks to his doctors, he lived to become Sarawak’s fifth Chief Minister.
Despite the warnings from his family and medical practitioners, he never slowed down because he was a man with a mission.
Probably knowing that he had little time on his hands, he threw caution to the wind.
In December 2013, three months before he succeeded Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud to helm the Sarawak government, he was told by the former in Mecca during the “Umrah” (mini Haj) that he would helm the government.
Adenan was chosen because he was the most experienced member of the Sarawak Cabinet.
I had known Adenan since becoming Kuching’s New Straits Times (NST) correspondent in 1981 and over the years developed a close relationship with him. I had often visited his family home in Damai and became close to the family.
A journalist and band boy in the 1960s, Adenan went on to become a Crown Counsel from Adelaide University, following in the footsteps of his St Joseph’s schoolmate and mentor Taib.
Born in Kuching on January 27, 1944 — at the tail end of the Second World War — Adenan was the son of a Customs officer Satem Sulong, a Kuching Malay from Kampung Bandarsah 2, just off the present Jalan Ajibah Abol. Satem was no less a rare breed — he had excelled as a civil servant in the British colonial government and received a long service award.
During the run-up to the formation of Malaysia in the early 1960s, he was also appointed a counsellor with the Cobbold Commission.
Adenan’s mother Rabiah Usman, who was of Indian-Muslim and Chinese descent, and the second wife of Satem, also a religious teacher in their village, was also a great influence in Adenan’s life.
Both husband and wife were of the opinion that their seven children would be sent to one of the top schools in Kuching — St Joseph’s and St Thomas’ — and they chose the former.
Adenan’s oldest brother Amin was the first to attend St Joseph’s school while Adenan, who was the second youngest of the siblings, followed in his older brother’s footsteps and spent eight years in the Catholic institution.
An avid reader, Adenan first attended St Anthony’s in Sarikei followed by Sacred Heart School in Sibu. On his return to Kuching, Adenan attended Primary Five education at St Joseph’s school where he remained until he completed his Upper Six examinations.
Adenan gave credit to his mother for encouraging and guiding him from childhood until he earned a scholarship to study law at the University of Adelaide in South Australia.
In 1964 after completing his Higher School Certificate (HSC) with distinction, he worked as a temporary teacher and then joined the Sarawak Tribune as a reporter for six months.
A prolific writer and avid reader, he wrote several articles, one of which was “The Burden and the Glory” on the holding of public office.
Adenan explained that in his article he wrote that when an individual assumes public office, the “burden” can be rewarded with “glory”.
He said that glory always came with a price. “After a while, the glory fades and it is always the burden that remains.”
After Taib returned to Sarawak as a crown counsel from the Adelaide university in 1962, it was Adenan’s turn to follow in his footsteps.
On July 22, 1963 Taib was appointed one of Sarawak’s first cabinet Ministers.
Little did Adenan realise that their destinies would be intertwined.
After returning from Australia where he served as a prosecutor in the Crown Law Office of Adelaide from 1969 till 1970, he tied the knot with Taib’s sister Aishah Zainab.
In 1972, a year after his appointment as a Magistrate in Kuching, Adenan was invited to Kuala Lumpur to become an assistant secretary in the Natural Resources Ministry under Taib.
Three years later Adenan returned to Kuching and ventured into legal practice.
His political career took off in 1976 when he was appointed as the legal adviser and a committee member of Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB).
In 1978, he contested in and won the Muara Tuang State constituency (now called Asajaya) during a by-election. He retained the seat in a State election.
In December 1983, Adenan continued his winning style and became the Muara Tuang incumbent for another term. He won again in the 5th State election in April 1987.
In the September 1991 election, he doubled his majority of 8,272 votes; and due to his popularity won unopposed in the subsequent state election in September 1996.
Five years later in September 2001, Adenan went on with an even bigger majority with 9,708 votes in the same constituency.
Now Adenan was a record seven-term assemblyman for the Muara Tuang constituency.
Hand-picked to enter Federal politics, he contested in Batang Sadong during the 11th parliamentary election in March 2004 which he also won and was later appointed Federal Minister of Natural Resources and Environment — a portfolio he held for only two years.
Unhappy with his Kuala Lumpur stint, the Federal Cabinet minister returned to Kuching where he remained as a parliamentarian and assemblyman without a portfolio.
Two years later, Taib came to Adenan’s rescue and knowing he was an avid fishing enthusiast, fielded him in the coastal constituency of Tanjung Datu which he easily won.
Four years later, he was appointed the Special Adviser to the Chief Minister, and was reappointed in 2011.
During this time Adenan’s heart condition became a stumbling block as the over-zealous politician pushed himself harder while trying to solve the many issues that Sarawak faced.
One of Adenan’s great concerns was for the Penan community — a disadvantaged minority. He was also worried by the decades-long environmental degradation left behind by excessive logging which had caused wanton destruction.
On one occasion, Adenan quoted the Bible, and in a pun, portrayed man as the biggest destroyer of the forests.
He said: “In the 1970s, I wrote a speech (during a State legislative sitting) called ‘The Eighth Day. According to biblical knowledge, God created the world in six days, on the seventh day he rested.
“But on the eighth day, mankind messed it up,” he quipped tongue-in-cheek.
When Taib fell ill in 2005, word was sent to Adenan that Taib was going to step down and had picked him as his successor.
Apparently, it was a ploy employed by Adenan’s rivals who wanted to trick Adenan into thinking that he was the “chosen one”.
How could the astute and wise politician be so gullible and naïve believe the story?
Would Adenan be so impatient that he would jump the gun instead of biding his time?
Adenan had taken the bait and resigned as a Federal Minister to return to Sarawak to become the supremo!
But by then Taib had recovered and was back at his office and Adenan was a man without a job.
Left in a lurch and certain that his days were numbered, Adenan spent his time golfing and fishing at his favourite haunt — the Sematan coastal region.
One day I called him to ask if he was okay and he invited me to Sematan to buy fish for the family.
After buying fish for Helen and Rebekah, we stopped at his “Kampung” farmhouse, which had a massive fish pond in the Siburan suburb where he stripped to his crocodile-brand underpants.
Chain-smoking and looking disconsolate, I tried to console him.
I said: “Whatever is going through your mind now, I believe it’s your destiny to become Chief Minister.”
A man of few words, his simple reply was: “I’m okay, James!”
News of Adenan as successor to Taib as chief minister was indicated to him only weeks before his appointment in early 2014.
Apparently, both Taib and Adenan, had separately planned a pilgrimage for the Umrah in Mecca and fate brought the duo together.
Taib was already booked to go to Mecca and Adenan was also going there.
Taib invited Adenan to join his entourage where the Chief Minister broke the news that he was retiring and said that his “blue-eyed boy” would succeed him.
On Feb 12, 2014 Taib announced he was stepping down and had chosen Adenan as his successor.
Three months earlier on December 18, at the launching of an exhibition “Celebrating the Writer” to honour me as a journalist, the jovial Adenan took a dig as me as he read my lengthy CV.
He quipped: “I never thought a part-time singer with the Aurora Hotel can become a good writer…maybe he was a frustrated singer who turned to writing by accident.”
He continued: “James has written 26 books and we hope he will write another 26 books… and hopefully one of them will be on Adenan Satem” to applause and a roar of laughter.
Well, “Tok Nan” I have done your bidding! God Speed!!