The two-year term of service of some 600 councillors in Sarawak has been extended to June 30, pending the announcement of new appointees.

The appointments were to have been announced in January since the terms of most of the councillors had expired o­n Dec 31 last year. However, the decision was postponed to end March, before being put off again.

No official reason has been given, but the exercise appears to have caused disagreement among political parties that form the state Barisan Nasional (BN) government.

Internal bickering

The dispute is apparently over a proposal that the distribution of councillors' posts should be based o­n the number of seats that each component party holds in the state legislative assembly.

Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), whose president Abdul Taib Mahmud is the chief minister, holds 30 of the 62 seats.

Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) has 16 seats, Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) has eight and Sarawak National Party (Snap) has seven. The opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) has o­ne seat.

Informed sources said PBDS wants a bigger allocation of councillors' posts to counter the influence of the predominantly Chinese-based SUPP, especially in the larger urban centres.

SUPP members currently 'control' major city or town councils. Its representative is the mayor in Kuching City South, while it dominates the Sibu and Miri town councils.

If the new formula is adopted, SUPP would have to accept a reduced number of posts. However, it is learnt that the party is not prepared to agree to this.

PBB is the largest component and backbone of the state government, but has the least number of representatives in local councils. This is part of its power-sharing strategy to accommodate all its BN partners.

It is understood that PBB has expressed willingness to make do with fewer representatives now, if this would make parties like PBDS happier.

Complex picture

PBDS secretary-general Stanley Ajang, also the state assembly representative for Belaga, said that his party has submitted its list to Environment and Public Health Minister William Mawan, who is responsible for local government matters.

Ajang told malaysiakini today that the party has asked for additional councillors' posts to the 50 that it currently holds.

However, Mawan ( photo ), who is president of the newly-created Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), also has a direct stake in the distribution exercise.

Already, he has come up against PBDS leader Dr James Masing ( photo ), who has submitted his own list of councillors from the party. (This is in tandem with an o­ngoing leadership tussle within PBDS, which is expected to be resolved o­nly during the triennial delegates conference later this year.)

Sources said Masing is unhappy that SPDP - which is "junior to PBDS" - may get the same number of posts that had been allocated to Snap.

(SPDP was formed by several former Snap members following deregistration of the party last November by the Registrar of Societies due to failure to resolve its leadership crisis. o­n April 1, 2003, the Court of Appeal granted a stay of execution of the ROS' decision pending the final outcome of an application for a judicial review to have the ROS' decision quashed.)

Mawan and his colleagues themselves are said to consider SPDB as "a rehabilitated Snap", which has the endorsement of BN leaders.

It is understood that the leaders of the Sarawak parties met several times to resolve the dispute but have since decided to leave the decision to Abdul Taib and Mawan. An announcement is expected by June 30.

Elected system?

Meanwhile, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia is co-ordinating a study o­n the role of councils and councillors throughout Malaysia. This is expected to be completed next month.

The study, which involves several universities, is expected to come up with a recommendation for election of councillors. Such posts are now filled through appointments.

One likely proposal is that candidates who want to stand for councillors' posts should not be affiliated to any political party or campaign o­n a political party platform.

An academician, who asked not to be identified, said it remains to be seen as to whether or not the government will accept the recommendation.

Various states in Peninsular Malaysia abolished local council elections at different times after Independence. In Sarawak, council elections were done away with prior to the first direct elections to the state assembly in 1970. Sabah, too, abolished local council elections around the same time.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak correspondent.