The appointment of new local councillors nominated by Sarawak Barisan Nasional component parties is likely to be delayed further because of the divided leadership in Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

The term of most present councillors, numbering about 600, was to have ended o­n December 31 last year.

But because of unresolved issues largely surrounding the allocation to each component party, it was extended to end of March and then to end of June.

Malaysiakini

learnt that except for PBDS, the list of nominees as submitted by the other parties have more or less been accepted.

The problem with PBDS is that it has submitted two lists - o­ne from the party headquarters and the other from its information chief and presidential aspirant Dr James Masing, who is a member of the state cabinet.

This and other unrelated issues have put both Mawan (left) - whose responsibilities extend to local government matters and Masing - who is minister of social development and urbanisation - at loggerheads.

A Mawan aide who asked not to be identified told malaysiakini that the minister hoped the appointment of new councillors, including a new walikota for Kapit, could be announced after the PBDS July 26-27 triennial delegates conference (TDC).

"We expect it should be quite smooth after the election of new party leaders," he said in reference

to the process of getting new councillors officially appointed.

Protocol dispute

Meanwhile, in what some quarters view as rather 'petty and hilarious', Masing and Mawan are also caught in a wrangle over their protocol ranking.

It surfaced during the state legislative assembly meeting earlier this month when Masing insisted that he instead of Mawan should be seated fourth in order of protocol after Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu.

On the first day of sitting Mawan took up his position o­n seat No 4 next to Jabu. When Masing turned up the following day he occupied the seat, insisting it was the correct order, leaving Mawan to occupy seat no 5 o­n the front bench facing government backbenchers.

According to reporters covering the proceedings, Mawan was even able to humour the House after taking up his new position when he apologised for pressing his old microphone buzzer, invoking chuckles from others.

According to an officer with the Protocol Section in the Chief Minister's Office, the new seating arrangement took place after Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) was admitted into BN last November, following the de-registration of the Sarawak National Party (Snap).

The Mawan aide, however, said he was not sure whether the directive had come from Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud who reportedly tried to intervene during the recent sitting of the state legislative assembly.

But at a birthday bash for Abdul Taib o­n May 21 at a hotel in Kuching, Mawan was seen seated next to Jabu with Masing after him.

The car registration plate numbers of cabinet members also reflect their order of importance in the cabinet.

When former Snap president James Wong Kim Min did not contest in the last state election in September 2001, Mawan was elevated from an assistant minister to a full minister.

Following this, he took over the use of a brand new Mercedes-Benz with the plate SG 4 (SG stands for Sarawak Government).

There is talk that Masing had insisted that the SG4 plate be given to him.

Smooth Hennessy

However, it is public knowledge that Mawan and his newly-formed SPDP party enjoy close rapport with PBDS deputy president and presidential aspirant Daniel Tajem and many of the leaders aligned to him.

At a recent SPDP women's wing dinner, none of the leaders aligned to Masing attended despite being invited while most of all the leaders linked to Tajem were present.

On Wednesday this week, when Mawan threw a party at his residence to celebrate his daughter's engagement, several top PBDS leaders were there, including secretary-general Stanley Ajang, treasurer-general Joseph Salang and supreme council member Kilat Beriak.

"Many of our party leaders were present. There was a lot of Hennessy flowing. It was very smooth," Kilat told malaysiakini .