FORMER Tupong assemblyman Daud Abdul Rahman died yesterday at Timberland Medical Centre, where he was admitted last Wednesday, in Kuching, Sarawak.

Daud is reported to have died about 4pm. He was 66.

Daud had formerly held the portfolio of Islamic affairs as an assistant minister in the Sarawak Chief Minister’s Office.

There is no official announcement of his death from the state government but Works Minister Fadillah Yusof in his condolence message described the five-term assemblyman as an exemplary representative who had worked tirelessly and was “full of commitment” for the people of Tupong.

Tupong is a Malay-majority urban seat in Kuching that along with Samariang and Satok make up Fadillah’s parliamentary seat of Petra Jaya.

Fadillah said Daud’s work had turned Tupong into a “Barisan Nasional fortress”.

An engineering graduate from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, Daud contested his first election in 1991 where he beat Permas’ candidate Baharuddin Mokhsen by a majority of 5,761 votes.

In 2004, after having successfully defended his seat three times and won a place on the Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) supreme council as party vice-president, Daud was rewarded with the assistant minister’s post.

He was also appointed assistant minister of industrial development overseeing the promotion and development of industrial estates.

In 2009, he was re-designated assistant minister for Islamic affairs and assistant minister for infrastructure development.

In May 2015, Daud was investigated by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over his awarding of an RM250 million contract for the 16-storey Baitul Makmur II to his engineering company, Eastbourne.

MACC in a press statement the same month said it had opened an investigation into the contract award process for alleged corruption and abuse of power, but did not name Daud.

It was only a month later that Daud, in first official appearance since MACC started the investigation, admitted he was being investigated and that RM4 million of his money in several banks had been frozen.

Daud was never formally charged with a crime but he was dropped by former chief minister Adenan Satem from, who was on a quest for drive a clean government, and was unable to defend his seat in last year’s state election.

Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is in Kuching to make Raya and Gawai visits to state leaders, and Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg  paid their last respects at Daud’s Laruh scheme home last night. – July 3, 2017.