A key aspirant for the top post in Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) Dr James Masing today claimed that he was not invited to a crucial meeting in Kuala Lumpur among top party leaders tomorrow.

The meeting, to be attended by outgoing president Leo Moggie, was called to discuss the leadership struggle plaguing the Barisan Nasional component party.

Sarawak newspapers gave prominent coverage about the meeting and stated that Masing, who is also the state minister for social development and urbanisation, will not be attending.

According to the reports, o­ne important name missing o­n the attendees list was Masing's running-mate for deputy president Sng Chee Hua.

Masing told reporters this morning that he had already met Moggie sometime around Christmas last year to discuss party matters.

During the last triennial delegates conference (TDC) three years ago, Masing lost in his bid to be deputy president and was defeated by incumbent Daniel Tajem.

Following this, Moggie appointed him along with several of his supporters into the party's highest policy-making body - the supreme council - as party information chief.

Tomorrow's meeting was said to have been arranged by a Masing emissary long before the supreme council meeting in Marudi in mid-March.

Allegation denied

Meanwhile, a PBDS senior leader who asked not to be identified denied Masing's claim that he was not invited to the meet.

"A letter was sent out to him inviting him to the meeting and he accepted the invitation," the senior leader told malaysiakini.

Reliable sources told malaysiakini that Masing may have decided not to attend after discovering that Sng was not included in the list.

According to today's news reports, those invited to the meet are Tajem, vice-president and Ngemah state assemblyperson Gabriel Adit, another vice-president Peter Runin and treasurer-general and Julau member of Parliament Joseph Salang Gandum.

Malaysiakini also learnt that soon after his return from a trip abroad earlier in the week, Masing

tried to get Sng and some of his supporters' names o­n the invitation list.

However, sources said Moggie was not prepared to alter the list, preferring to keep the discussion among those already o­n the list.

No changes

Political observers are now weighing the likely implications of Masing staying away from the meeting.

Even if the meeting takes place as scheduled without Masing, it is unlikely to change anything since Masing and his group have already declared publicly that they have secured more than enough support to win.

On the other hand, Moggie appeared set o­n his decision to quit despite several party branches urging him to reconsider.

The outgoing president would prefer to allow Tajem to succeed him and have Masing as his deputy.

In a related development, the group supporting Tajem and Salang for the party's two top-most posts expressed doubt over the support which their rivals have claimed to have garnered.

This could launch the rival factions into a dispute over the actual number of branches that could send delegates to vote at the conference, expected to held this September.

New party

A Masing critic pointed out that such an eventuality could lead the Masing faction to think that their chances of winning have been thwarted and they might resign en masse to form a new party.

"There is a possibility that the whole thing could blow up even before the TDC," he said, adding that with the majority of the party's elected representatives o­n Masing's side, "there is nothing to stop him from taking them out of PBDS to form a new party".

Whether or not a breakaway group under a new party will be accepted into the BN fold depends o­n the state and federal BN leaderships.