The battlelines in the leadership fight for control of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) have been finally drawn after another prospective presidential candidate Daniel Tajem formally picked treasurer-general Joseph Salang Gandum last night as his running-mate for the deputy present's post.

Tajem, 62, the party's deputy president since 1983 when the party was formed and a former Sarawak deputy chief minister and a former Malaysian envoy to New Zealand, formally invited Salang, who is also the member of parliament for Julau, to be his running-mate for the deputy president's post, at a dinner in Kota Samarahan at the residence of a PBDS supreme council member Edward Sandah.

Salang, regarded as incumbent president Leo Moggie's close confidante and a successful Iban businessman, accepted - much to the delight of the leaders and members of 12 party branches from the Samaharan area (covering the state constituencies of Asajaya and Muara Tuang).

The branches held their annual general meetings earlier in the day.

Prior to this, Tajem had not said anything about who would be his running mate after he confirmed that he would definitely go for the top party post if Moggie, who is also Minister of Energy,Communications and Multimedia, should stick to his decision not to seek re-election at the forthcoming triennial delegates conference.

Avoid cliques

Tajem has always wanted to avoid cliques, believing that it could be destructive to a party formed from a breakaway group of the now-defunct Sarawak National Party (Snap) 20 years ago to champion the rights and interests of the rural Dayak community.

But, according to party vice president Peter Runin, who spoke during the dinner, futile attempts had been made to try and reconcile differences with the rival faction led by party information chief and presidential aspirant Dr James Masing.

Masing, who is also state minister for social development and urbanisation, along with his running-mate for the deputy presidency Sng Chee Hua, o­ne of the party's five vice presidents, have claimed they garnered more than enough "nominations" from party branches throughout Sarawak to win, even though the date of the TDC has not even been fixed.

So confident is Masing about winning the contest that he refused to meet face-to-face with Moggie who called for an informal meeting o­n Thursday in Kuala Lumpur to try and resolve differences between the rival factions.

Instead, the state minister flew to Miri and launched the Second Sarawak Air Recreation Day. He was pictured in most of today's local newspapers sitting in the cockpit of a Malaysian-made F15B light aircraft, giving the thumbs-up and smiling behind dark glasses.

According to PBDS supreme council member Kilat Beriak, a lawyer and supporter of the Moggie-Tajem-Salang faction, Tajem spoke about the need to strengthen PBDS as a vehicle to help promote and protect Dayak interests.

No dirty politics

Salang, who is also a director of Telekoms Malaysia, was reported in today's Sunday Tribune as asking all aspiring candidates "to steer clear of dirty politics."

"I have heard that some quarters are now resorting to personal attacks but everyone can be assured that I would not stoop that low just to win votes," he was quoted as saying at a meet-the people session at Rumah Janggu, Ulu Lasi in his parliamentary constituency of Julau.

He said: "My parents had always advised me not to say anything if you have nothing good to say. Moreover, it is a sin to talk about other people because you never know o­ne day you might need that person's help."

He added that he believed personal track-record was possibly the best indicator to get o­neself nominated and later elected for any post.

"As such , I always believe in working hard for the community, because if you do this, then it is worthwhile for the members to nominate you," said this soft-spoken Iban politician who holds a MBA degree and had many years in finance and banking before venturing into business.

The PBDS supreme council will meet o­n the third Saturday of April and that it is most likely the date of the next TDC will be discussed or even determined at the same meeting. Talk is that the TDC may even be held as early as June or July.

According to a supreme council member who asked not to be identified, if the supreme council should decide o­n the date at its next meeting it would o­nly require six weeks' notice to call for the TDC.

"This would mean the meeting could be held either in June or July," he added.

Then the election process could begin with the first imporant step of setting up a credentials committee acting as an independent body to verify the status of all branches that could send delegates to the TDC and vote.

According to Kilat, every party branch has to be approved by the supreme council and registerd with the Registrar of Societies (ROS). Each branch is given a certificate of registration by the ROS to operate legally.

The Masing faction claimed they have already obtained "nominatins" from some 80 per cent of the party's 206 branches they say are o­nly qualified to send delegates and vote, based o­n the 2000 TDC list.

Status of branches

But PBDS secretary-general Stanley Ajang said recently the supreme council had met o­n August 24 last year to accept branches existing up to that date as a cut-off point, and not the date of the last TDC.

Besides this, he also said that the status of branches would also have to be verified and the task would fall o­n the shoulders of members of the credentials committee when it is eventually formed.

The Masing faction has objected to Ajang's recent announcement extending the closing date for submission of branch meeting minutes to the party headquarters from March 31 to May 15,believing that this is o­nly a ploy to delay the convening of the TDC.

But Malaysiakini now understand that the party headquarters want to get the exercise done as quickly as possible, even before the next supreme council meeting,so that a date for the forthcoming TDC could be finalised as soon as possible.

Indications are the TDC will be held this year,earlier than what most people have speculated, "in order to reduce politicking within the party,"according to o­ne party source.

What this could possibly imply is that PBDS will have a set of newly-elected leaders even long before the next parliamentary elections, which is seen as a moot point, because of fears of some members of parliament being dropped from the candidature list.