CMS Courts Governance Crisis as Taib Family Feud Deepens

A seat on the board means nothing if you cannot get through the door. That is the reality facing Mahmud Abu Bekir Taib at Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), Malaysia's dominant Sarawak infrastructure conglomerate. He holds the title. He has repeatedly won in court. He still cannot attend board meetings.

The reason? Management keeps citing "conflict of interest." Courts disagree. So does the record.

What the CMS boardroom exclusion means for APAC business leaders

This is not a local corporate squabble. It is a live case study in what happens when a family dynasty loses its patriarch, splits over a billion-dollar estate, and has no functioning crisis communication plan. For corporate affairs and PR leaders across Asia, CMS is exactly the kind of scenario you prepare clients for but hope never arrives.

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The numbers behind the feud

CMS's financial trajectory tells the real story. Profits after tax fell from RM290 million (approximately US$65 million) in 2022 to just RM40 million (approximately US$9 million) in 2025. Comprehensive income collapsed from RM106 million to RM2 million in a single year, a 98% decline.

The core cement business is actually fine, posting pre-tax profits of RM161 million in 2025, up from RM149 million the year before. The damage is coming from a RM1 billion phosphate plant that has never properly operated. Against a total market capitalization of roughly RM1.2 billion, this is an existential-scale bet. The plant has accumulated over RM500 million in losses, including RM146 million in 2025 alone. Sarawak Energy cut off its electricity supply in July 2023 over RM266 million in unpaid bills, and power was only restored in September 2025. The 2025 Annual Report's explanation: "higher pre-commissioning costs."

That single phrase, offered for a RM500 million loss, is a masterclass in what not to do.

The governance void at the center

On April 7, 2026, CMS demoted Mahmud from deputy group chairman to non-executive director. On the same day, he filed suit asserting his right to attend board meetings. Courts had already lifted an injunction against him in April 2025, and the Court of Appeal dismissed CMS's appeal in January 2026. Management simply continued the exclusion anyway.

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During that exclusion period, Mahmud alleges CMS approved over RM260 million in loans and budgets without adequate independent oversight. The company has offered no substantive public response to that allegation.

Minority shareholders raised formal concerns at the March 2025 AGM about the vacant head of internal audit position (empty since October 2022, more than three years), the phosphate losses, and governance opacity. They received no meaningful reply. Major institutional investors, including Norway's Government Pension Fund Global and Malaysia's Employees Provident Fund, have been cutting their stakes in response.

Oxford's Said Business School puts it plainly: "In times of disruption, family shareholders should speak with one voice, and communicate their commitment to their business early and often." CMS has done neither.

The May 25 AGM is the flashpoint

Four board members are up for re-election at the May 25 AGM, including managing director Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, the younger Taib son whose position amounts to a shareholder referendum on the entire management approach. APAC shareholder activism doubled in H1 2025, with industrials the most targeted sector. CMS occupies that exact sector.

The Genting Group's comparable family feud ended only when the company appointed its first non-family CEO in February 2025, after years of reputational damage. The pattern at CMS suggests a similar reckoning is coming. The question is whether management chooses the timeline or shareholders do.

Silence is a strategy. It is just rarely a good one.