Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) deputy president Daniel Tajem has made it clear that the party must continue to be led and controlled by Dayaks.

In an interview published today in the Sunday Tribune, he said he would not compromise o­n the status of PBDS.

"PBDS was formed by a group of Dayaks to articulate the Dayak cause and was so named - Parti Bansa Dayak

Sarawak. It is a Dayak-based party and I hold the view that it should be such," he said.

Tajem, a former Sarawak deputy chief minister and former Malaysian envoy to New Zealand, proclaimed: "On that, I don't compromise. We can play a secondary or minor role but the party must be led and controlled by Dayaks."

Would he not be concerned about being labelled a racist?, Tajem was asked.

His reply: "Well, if that's the case, then I treat it as a compliment. At least, they know that Dayaks exist."

Racial-based parties

"In any case, can you tell me the number of political parties in Malaysia named after the communities they

represent? Umno, MCA and MIC. If these people are racists, then yes, I am a racist along with them. Some

may say it is a politically-incorrect statement."

"In anything you do, there are detractors and o­ne shouldn't be afraid of detractors as long as o­ne's

goal is genuine and honest. You have to be true to yourself. What I don't like is when you say o­ne thing

but do another.What can't you just call a spade a spade?"

Tajem also said that he had never agreed to or endorsed party information chief Dr James Jemut Masing as his running mate for the party No 2 post at the forthcoming triennial delegates conference (TDC) tentatively scheduled in September this year.

He also made it clear that he would not go for the No 1 post as long as the party president Leo Moggie wants to continue to lead the Dayak-based party.

Miri declaration

Tajem was responding to a series of questions concerning the Miri declaration (made by some 160

branches in April last year during which the delegates declared their support for him to succeed Moggie as

president and Masing, the state minister of social development and urbanisation, as deputy president) and

Masing's call for discarding what he described as ethnic chauvinism and his personal relationship with

Moggie.

Tajem also declined to comment when asked whether party vice president Sng Chee Hua should run for the deputy president in the forthcoming TDC as part of the Masing-Sng alliance that is being offered as an

alternative, should the proposed Tajem-Masing alliance that the delegates in Miri called for fizzle out.

"I don't want to comment o­n that," he said.

Asked whether Moggie should go for another term as president, Tajem said he was the first to talk to

him (Moggie) about changing his retirement plans.

"On January 5, 2001 when Moggie first expressed his intention to retire, I and another close friend persuaded him for three long hours to stay o­n. At that meeting, he also voiced his frustrations with certain people," he added.

According to Tajem, they failed to dissuade him "but I did tell him not to break the news in public because

there would be a lot of political and social ramifications if he were to do that." He did not elaborate, however.

Tajem said nobody should doubt his personal relationship with Moggie. "We grew up together. He knows my weaknesses and strengths and I know his. We can curse o­ne another but that will not make us lesser

friends."

Tajem said that should Moggie stick to his word and not contest, he would put his (Tajem's ) name forward as

candidate for the top post. "I would leave it to the delegates to decide who they want to be the No 2. I would not want to have cliques and camps."

Moggie still needed

Meanwhile, in an interview with the same paper, deputy presidential aspirant Joseph Sallang, who is also party treasurer-general, said he would o­nly see himself moving up the party hierarchy "if that is what the party leadership and delegates want and not otherwise."

And if he is elected, Sallang said his most important priority would be to get the party members to be more

involved and to understand the reasons for the party's existence and why they chose to become members of the party.

"That part is not much understood generally by the rural people," Sallang, who acknowledges Moggie as

"the boss" and holds similar views as party secretary-general Stanley Ajang felt that it is still not the time for Moggie to relinquish his post as party president.

"I think it is right to try and dissuade him from retiring because he still has a lot of useful years in leading the party. He has contributed so much to the party and his services are still needed," Sallang added.