tabPanel.xhtml

<h:form id="f2">
    <rich:tabPanel id="panel2" switchType="ajax" activeItem="#{togglePanelBean.activeItem}">
        <rich:tab header="tab1" name="t1">
            Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be
            here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will
            be here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be here. Content will be here.
        </rich:tab>
        <rich:tab header="tab 1a (dis)" name="t1a" disabled="true"  >
            Disabled tab content
        </rich:tab>
        <rich:tab header="tab2" name="t2">
            He he
        </rich:tab>
    </rich:tabPanel>
</h:form>  

TogglePanelBean.java

package org.richfaces;

import java.io.Serializable;

import javax.faces.bean.ManagedBean;
import javax.faces.bean.ViewScoped;

import org.richfaces.event.ItemChangeEvent;
import org.richfaces.log.LogFactory;
import org.richfaces.log.Logger;

@ManagedBean
@ViewScoped
public class TogglePanelBean implements Serializable {
    private String activeItem = "t1a";
    
    public String getActiveItem() {
        return activeItem;
    }
    
    public void setActiveItem(String activeItem) {
        this.activeItem = activeItem;
    }
}