Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak's (PBDS) prospective presidential candidate Dr James Masing met with party president Leo Moggie in Kuala Lumpur last weekend in what many believed to be part of a last-minute compromise over the tussle for leadership control in the Dayak-based party.

Masing was accompanied by his running-mate for deputy president's post, Sng Chee Hua, who was recently widely rumoured to be considering quitting from his vice-president post because of "increasing pressures" from within the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

The meeting was confirmed by PBDS secretary-general Stanley Ajang, who is the Belaga state assemblyperson, today.

Compromise formula

"I was told by Moggie this morning that Masing and Sng had met with him," Ajang told malaysiakini by phone from Kuala Lumpur.

Although he declined to go into details, Ajang said he understood that the duo had possibly wanted to hear whether he (Moggie) had "any compromise formula in mind" to avoid a fight for the party's top two posts.

"My information is that Moggie had asked how confident the two were in winning (the party posts)," he added.

According to Ajang, the duo told Moggie that they were optimistic about their chances should there be a contest.

Rumours were circulating in town during the weekend that the Masing-Sng faction were seeking an appointment to see Moggie who has publicly declared he would not be seeking re-election at the forthcoming party elections, widely expected to be held either at the end of July or early August.

Last day

Meanwhile, the Masing-Sng faction submitted 41 boxes containing the reports and annual returns of 159 party branches to the party headquarters late this afternoon.

They had earlier tried to send the reports and annual returns directly to the Registrar of Societies. However, the ROS advised them to send them to the party headquarters.

PBDS supreme council member Sidi Munan, who is aligned to the Masing-Sng faction, told malaysiakini that another 20 branches would submit their reports and annual returns o­n Friday.

The last day for submission of the annual returns has been extended by o­ne day to May 16 because of public holidays this week.

Sidi said the fresh submission was to replace the reports and annual reports of 177 branches contained in eight boxes that were delivered to party headquarters at the end of last month.

New dispute

According to informed sources, there is growing concern that new disputes could arise when the boxes are opened to reveal duplicity of branches in many areas as the party headquarters have also conducted similar meetings at branch level throughout Sarawak.

According to PBDS deputy president Daniel Tajem recently, the party had verified about 200 party branches and ensured that meetings were held. His faction say there are about 250 branches registered with the ROS.

Tajem has expressed his intention to run for the party top posts with Joseph Salang as his running mate.

However, the rival Masing-Sng camp is claiming that o­nly 205 branches could send delegates and vote at the upcoming party elections.

Their confidence about winning is said to be based o­n some 170 branches who have completed their meetings and submitted their reports and annual returns to the party.