The struggle between rival factions within Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) for control of the party has begun in earnest with the speedy submission of annual returns from the majority of party branches to the party headquarters.

This came in the form of seven stainless steel boxes, locked and sealed, containing the annual returns from 177 branches sent to the headquarters yesterday by the faction supporting party information chief Dr James Masing for the president's post and Sng Chee Hua, o­ne of the party's five vice presidents, for the deputy president's post.

Accompanying the delivery of the boxes to the headquarters in Jalan Datuk Wan Alwi were several pro-Masing/Sng faction leaders, including member of parliament Billy Abit Joo, state assemblyperson John Sikie Tayai, political secretaries to the Chief Minister, Wilfred Nissom and Wilson Uggak, and supreme council members Richard Wil and Sidi Munan.

Witnesses around

PBDS' newly-appointed executive secretary Henry Lian was present to receive the boxes which the rival faction insisted should o­nly be opened by the party's secretary-general Stanley Ajang in the presence of witnesses from both sides.

The delivery was made under a covering letter signed by Masing ( photo ), who is also state minister for social development and urbanisation, and Sng. The letter referred to resolutions from branches expressing their intention to nominate both Masing and Sng for the party's two top posts at the forthcoming triennial delegates conference (TDC), the date of which has yet to be fixed.

The Masing faction in a statement said the branches had already held their respective annual general meetings as directed by the secretary-general via a circular letter dated December 2, 2002.

"They had sent their annual returns through Dr Masing and Sng for further action by the appropriate party officials before submitting the same to the Registrar of Societies soonest," it added.

The faction still insists that the deadline for submitting the returns to party headquarters is March 31 and has refused to recognise the secretary-general's decision extending the submission date to May 15.

But under the party constitution, the secretary-general has the right to extend the deadline for such submission if there are good and legitimate reasons for doing so.

Serious issue

But by insisting that the deadline is now over, the Masing faction is saying that late submission of annual returns from the remaining branches should not be entertained.

If none of the factions is prepared to budge o­n this, it could potentially become a serious contentious issue that could throw a spanner into the works of the whole machinery trying to get the TDC going as soon as possible.

What possible motives any of the faction could have for their stance o­n the issue are unclear, but clearly there are more differences already existing than had been anticipated that could have the whole issue blown in the face of everyone before the TDC is held.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the secretary-general said the party headquarters would carefully scrutinise the annual returns in order to ensure that they all complied with the provisions of the party constitution and with the Societies Act before further action was taken.

A spokesman for the rival faction supporting deputy president Daniel Tajem for the president's post and treasurer-general Joseph Salang Gandum for the deputy president's post told malaysiakini : "We are not worried as we have a lot of counter-measures and also a lot of supporters o­n our side as well."