The campaign within the Iban-based Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) to oust Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie from the leadership of the party seems to be gaining momentum.

A meeting is being planned in Kuching at the end of this month with the aim of gathering signatures from about 2,000 delegates from the party's 204 branches throughout the state to urge Moggie to step down immediately as party president and let his deputy Daniel Tajem act as president until next year's trienniel delegates conference.

The two-day meeting is officially planned as a motivational forum with a number of invited speakers.

But, according to anti-Moggie campaigners, the real intention is a signature campaign before a party delegation to be headed by Tajem and Dr James Masing s — led by Masing and senior vice-president Sng Chee Hua — way of telling the party chief that they cannot agree with his preference for the No 2 post.

One name that is frequently mentioned as Moggie's preferred choice is Joseph Salang Gandum, the member of parliament for Julau and the party's treasurer and a director of Telekoms.

Interestingly, it was Salang, a masters graduate in business administration and a former bank officer, who replaced Sng at the last minute when the latter's candidacy was rejected by the ruling Barisan Nasional leadership in the last parliamentary elections.