OUTGOING Santubong MP Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said no one pressured or forced him to step down and not defend the seat he had held for four terms in this 15th general election.

“Nobody. Not even the premier,” he said, referring to Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg.

“It’s my wish and about time (too),” the caretaker minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Parliament) told reporters in a media conference at the Kuching international airport this afternoon.

Despite a hectic workload to tie loose ends in his ministry before he leaves for good, he flew home so he could accompany Nancy Shukri, who will replace him in the Santubong constituency, in filing her nomination papers tomorrow.

“I stepped down on my own wish.”

The 77-year-old said he had three months ago given notice to Abang Johari, as chairman of the state’s four-party ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak, of his desire to withdraw from contesting.

He said despite mounting pressure from his grassroots supporters to withdraw that decision, he was adamant on keeping the promise he made to himself.

“When you are at the peak of your popularity, that’s the time to go. Don’t wait until people kick you out. Don’t overstay your welcome.”

He wishes to share this advice with politicians who had “overstayed their welcome” continuing to stand in elections with hopes of extending their political life.

Wan Junaidi said his grassroots supporters were insistent that he continue, even for just one more term.

“When word got around that I would not be contesting, they came to see me in droves.

“But I told them I had given my word to the premier, even though the premier had not acknowledged or made a decision on my wish.”

Wan Junaidi said the premier too was in no hurry to make a decision, preferring to give him time to mull it over.

“At my first meeting (with Abang Johari) after I made my wish known to him, his words were: It’s up to you still. We don’t make any decisions now.”

He said Abang Johari uttered the same words when they met a second time.

He said when they last met on Wednesday, he told the premier “I remain firm (with my decision).

“I told him: Sir, there’s no change. I still stick to my stand to withdraw from contesting.

“I want to make it clear. The premier never asked me to step down,” he said.

In his 13 months as the minister in charge of law and parliament, Wan Junaidi had overseen significant changes to the Federal Constitution with the three major ones being the amendments to incorporate the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and the Inter-Governmental Committee Report; the anti-party hopping law and the lowering of the voting age from 21 to 18. – November 4, 2022.