With the Masing-Sng alliance claiming groundswell support for their campaign to gain control of the leadership of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), supporters of the other faction, led by party president Leo Moggie, are urging their side not to waste time but to start going down to the ground.

By Sunday, after the branches in Sri Aman division had held their joint annual general meeting, supporters of the Masing-Sng faction say the pair has garnered more than enough of the required minimum number of nominations to stand for the presidency and deputy presidency.

But, according to observers, the support has remained largely a declaration of support via a joint resolution of the branches urging and endorsing state minister of social development and urbanisation and party information chief Dr James Jemut Masing ( right ) and party vice president Sng Chee Hua ( left ) as their choices for the party's two top posts.

The nomination forms have yet to be released by the party headquarters and no names have yet been formally submitted as candidates.

General support

According to o­ne party leader, who asked not to be identified, the support for both Masing and Sng - who is also a corporate figure in Malaysia and a former elected representative both at parliamentary and state levels - is o­nly general in nature.

"We will have to wait and see how many nominations they can actually secure at the end of the day," he added.

But supporters of party deputy president Daniel Tajem, a former Sarawak deputy chief minister and former Malaysian envoy to New Zealand, are concerned that if "Tajem remains where he is and does not do as much o­n the ground" he could find himself with lesser number of nominations at the end of the day.

The original Tajem-Masing alliance first proposed by delegates from some 160 branches reportedly present at a gathering in Miri in April last year looks as good as dead now, with Masing now openly declaring Sng as his running mate for the deputy president's post.

The joint Sri Aman branches' AGM also resolved that the triennial delegates conference (TDC) should be held this year, although it could be held the latest by February 2004.

Candidates for polls

Political commentators say that the Masing-Sng faction are anxious to hold the TDC this year, before the parliamentary elections, widely expected early next year, to prevent some of them from being dropped from the parliamentary election list.

One name that is thought likely to be dropped should the Moggie-Tajem-Sallang faction again take all the posts in this coming TDC, is that of the member of parliament for Sri Aman, Jimmy Donald who is a former school headmaster.

As each day goes by with support o­n the ground seemingly growing for the Masing-Sng alliance, Masing is said to be pushing hard for party members and delegates to accept Sng as deputy presidential candidate.

In a party largely identified as representing Dayak interests, Masing has asked members to drop any ethnic chauvinistic outlook meaning they should be able to accept Sng as the No 2 to lead the party.

Many of Masing's critics and Sng's detractors wonder why after announcing his retirement from active politics, the corporate figure would now want to come back again.

Unhappy Sng

Several reasons have been advanced for this; o­ne of which is his unhappiness at being dropped as the BN candidate for Julau during the 1999 general election.

Sng was the Julau incumbent at that time but was dropped at the last minute, reportedly at the request of top federal BN leadership, and instead Joseph Sallang, a former senior bank officer, was nominated at the eleventh hour to contest. Sallang won.

"It seems Sng has not got over that o­ne yet," o­ne observer said.

But Sng's influence within the party is never under-rated. His opponents say he could play a decisive role should he go all the way to back Masing as party president.

But according to some sources, Masing is not sure whether Sng can command as much support as he wants to swing the day o­n his side. The same sources said that he (Masing) had in fact approached him recently to ask if he would be amenable to the idea of having Jimmy Donald replacing him as candidate for deputy president.

According to the sources, Sng would have none of that, particularly as he has already gone a long way to ensure victory in the end for his group. The differences between the two factions are also said to be business-linked.

Interestingly, PBDS Youth chief Joseph Entulu, who is also an assistant minister in the Chief Minister's Office, has now publicly stated he would defend his post.

Earlier, local newspapers reported that he would give way to the Pelagus state assemblyperson Larry Sng, 23, and son of Sng Chee Hua, and that he (Entulu) would move up to be a vice president.

Political observers say this could have represented a reversal of decision in order not to give the impression that the Sngs, being Chinese, would want to try and control the party eventually.