Hopes of resolving the leadership squabbles within Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), a component of the state's four-member ruling coalition, appear to have been dashed after the leader of o­ne faction refused to even sit down and discuss the issue with the rival group.

A key aspirant for the party's top post Dr James Masing, who is the state minister of social development and urbanisation and party information chief, declined to attend a meeting of selected party leaders that incumbent president Leo Moggie had called for o­n Thursday in Kuala Lumpur.

Masing, who is leader of the faction that has nominated him for the president's post and Sng Chee Hua, o­ne of the party's five vice presidents, for the deputy president's post, told reporters later that he had declined to go to the meeting because Moggie was reluctant to allow o­ne of his staunch supporters Billy Abit, the member of parliament for Ulu Rajang, to attend as well.

Displeasure

He said he had spoken to Moggie, who is the Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia, by phone after receiving the letter of invitation, signed by Moggie's political secretary, Aaron Dagang. He added that the party president was not keen to include Billy, a Orang Ulu politician, in the luncheon meeting.

Malaysiakini understands, however, that Masing gave other reasons, including his apparent "displeasure" at a press statement made by o­ne of his harshest critics Gabriel Adit, another party vice president and Ngemah state assebmlyperson.

Adit had criticised Masing and his faction at the way they had gone around trying to garner support from among branches for their nominations to the party posts.

Several party leaders closely aligned to Moggie told Malaysiakini that the party president had tried to bring Masing in and talk "in a family-like gathering" among several of the party's Dayak leaders, including deputy president Daniel Tajem, who has announced he would go for the top post if Moggie steps down.

They also said that if Masing confirmed there and then he and his group would prefer a contest "then at least we could discuss decently the ground rules for the contest."

The meeting went ahead during lunch at a Chinese restaurant in o­ne of Kuala Lumpur's most prestigious hotels near the KL Twin Tower.

Respect Moggie

Yesterday, PDBS secretary-general Stanley Ajang issued a press statement reminding party members that Moggie is still party president, in effect asking them to show him respect as the leader of the party and not as if he is no longer the party president.

"His term of office o­nly expires after the first meeting of the newly-elected supreme council in which event he will have to hand over his duties to the new president, if he is not re-elected as president," according to the statement.

The statement called for what had been described as gentlemanly conduct by everyone in the conduct of the campaign and during the forthcoming party's elections.

The statement said the party was registered under the Societies Act and in all its affairs it must comply with the provisions of the law and internally the party was guided by its constitution which provides for how the party was run and regulated.

According to Ajang, this included the convening of the triennial delegates conference(TDC) where the party's

supreme council had to appoint a credentials committee which would run the election independently.

The party's credentials committee is said to function in the same way as the Election Commission in the state and federal elections.

Ajang explained that the party had to issue the latest statement "in order to inform party members and the general public who might be misled by the various statements made by individuals who had offered themsevles as candidates in the forthcoming TDC."

"The date of the TDC has not been fixed and, therefore, the credentials committee has not yet been appointed."

Ajang also said that nominations for party positions had not been called for simply because the election process of the party had not yet been appointed.

The statement called o­n all aspirants for party posts to refrain from making "improper and misleading" public statements.

"They should work towards building a stronger and more united PBDS," Ajang said, adding that "loyal party members should avoid undermining the party and tarnishing its reputation."

80 percent support

This is obviously referring to claims by the Masing faction that they have already secured more than 80 per cent support from the party's 206 branches they say can o­nly send delegates to the TDC and vote.

The party headquarters has indicated the actual number is higher - around 263 - after a supreme council decision made o­n Agust 24 last year agreed that all branches existing up to that date could send delegates and vote.

The Masing faction is insisting that o­nly the 2000 TDC list could apply, meaning that any other branches, either re-activated or formed after the last TDC up to August 24 last year, should not be entertained.

The decision of the supreme council agreeing to August 24, 2000 as the cut-off date was minuted in minutes approved at the subsequent supreme council meeting, according to Ajang recently.

Meanwhile, the Masing faction has strongly objected to the secretary-general's recent announcement extending the date for the submission of the branch meeting minutes to the party headquarters from March 31 to May 15.

According to them, Ajang sent out the notices calling for branches to hold their annual general meetings and to elect office-bearers in December last year, giving all branches more than enough time to furnish their records o­n the proceedings of their AGMs to party headquarters.

But Ajang said a few days ago that there were still many branches that had not been able to meet due to several reasons, including harvesting.

The Masing faction views this as nothing more than a ploy to delay the convening of the TDC "in the face of groundswell support at the grassroots for their faction."

Meanwhile, the party's treasurer-general and Julau member of parliament Joseph Salang Gandum (photo) was today quoted as saying by the Sarawak Tribune that he would not be willing to put his name forward as a candidate for the deputy president's post or for that matter even as a candidate for any party post and as a candidate again in the next parliamentary elections "if that is what the party members want."

This is the second time in several weeks that Salang, who is also a director of Telekoms Malaysia and a close confidante of Moggie, made such a statement following the scramble for the top party posts. A former senior bank officer with The Standard Chartered Bank, he is now regarded a successful Iban businessmen.

But Salang remains his faction's choice for the No 2 post if Moggie should decide eventually not to change his mind about stepping down.

Top guns to help

The PBDS crisis has generated considerable interest not o­nly within the party but also within the state Barisan Nasional as well as the public in Sarawak, inspite of the extensive publicity over the war in Iraq.

With Moggie's apparent failure to bring the two factions together to reach some form of a consensus in order to avoid a more serious split and the snub by his information chief by his refusal to attend the Thursday meeting in Kuala Lumpur, there is speculation as to whether the top BN leadership will step in eventually, as in the case of the internal crisis in the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).

One possibility that has been speculated in some quarters is that through a possible intervention by top BN leaders at state and federal levels, there may be a retention of the status quo of the present leadership line-up until the 2006 TDC.

Part of the reason, according to this argument, is that the BN cannot risk conflicts from within as they prepare for the next general election.

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