PETALING JAYA: The Sarawak government has declared two days of mourning following the death of its longest serving chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.
The Sarawak public communications unit announced that all state flags are to be flown at half-mast during this period.
“All entertainment events are to be postponed,” it said in a statement.
Taib died at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur at about 4.40am. His body will be taken to the National Mosque and later flown to Kuching where it will be brought to his home in Demak Jaya.
Members of the public may pay their last respects to him at the Sarawak state assembly from 8am to 12pm tomorrow. He will then be laid to rest in Demak Jaya.
Taib was the longest serving head of a state government in Malaysia, heading the Sarawak government for 33 years from 1981 to 2014.
He was the country’s second-longest serving MP, serving Kota Samarahan for 38 years from 1970 to 2008.
He also served as Sarawak governor from 2014 until late last month.
Taib is widely credited with developing the state through numerous infrastructure projects. In January, he was described by Sarawak premier Abang Johari Openg as the “father of modern Sarawak”.
