With only a month to go when delegates will decide on new leaders for the party, the two rival factions in crisis-ridden Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) are actively on the ground on an offensive and counter-offensive campaign to win votes.

Most of the party's some 250 branches draw their membership from rural Sarawak, in Iban longhouses, Orang Ulu settlements and Bidayuh villages, with the rest from urban centres like Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Limbang and Lawas.

So when the campaigners hit the trail they literally have to travel to the ulu , and this means not only going by air and road but also by boat and in some cases on foot to reach some settlements, like in a general election.

A lot at stake

This time, there is a great deal of seriousness in the business of campaigning, largely because a lot is at stake.

It's not just the allocation of elected seats to both State Legislative Assembly and Parliament but also ministerial appointments, councillor posts, other government appointments and even business connections and business opportunities.

Publicly, there is little mention of such issues in the media. But a lot of it is talked about on the

ground, and making promises if you vote for so-and-so is, of course, nothing new.

On the surface, what is frequently mentioned is that the battle is being portrayed as if Dayakism is under threat.

Presidential aspirant Daniel Tajem, who served at one time as a deputy chief minister and a Malaysian envoy to New Zealand, was and is still associated with the Dayakism battle-cry.

Whether this will be used to good effect even to deny deputy presidential aspirant, the Kapit-born Chinese businessman Sng Chee Hua, the support of at least one-quarter of branches entitled to send delegates in order to qualify to contest remains to be seen.

Mood swing

But in recent weeks, Sng himself appears to have sensed that there might have been a mood swing against his side, and that this could even deny his partner and presidential aspirant Dr James Masing the 30 percent needed to secure the right to stand.

Tajem's running-mate for deputy president Joseph Salang Gandum, the party's treasurer-general and Julau member of Parliament, looks like a formidable candidate for the post.

It is well-known that Salang is a protg of outgoing party president Leo Moggie, the Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia. This is likely to be an advantage, given both Salang's own financial clout (he is, among other things, a director of Telekoms Malaysia) and the respect accorded Moggie by the Dayak community generally.

More often than not, politics is about money, both big and small. So making promises such as about sub-contracts for government building works is all part of the campaigning.

But this could backfire if your rivals could convince these are nothing but only empty promises, or that no contracts have been secured for government works, such as for school buildings like hostels, either projects that failed to take off the ground under the Seventh Malaysia Plan or approved for the Eighth Malaysia Plan.

The Tajem-Salang faction which also have close connection with Federal authorities are aware of many government contracts available in Sarawak and also the government's present financial situation.

Many of the projects tendered out in the list given out by the Ministry of Finance are being implemented on a deferred payment basis, and unless the contractors have strong financial background or lines with the banks, it may be difficult to take any of these projects.

Councillor posts

These are some of the things now being mentioned on the campaign trail in the run-up to the party elections scheduled on July 26-27 at Santubong Resort Kuching, a 600-room seaside resort owned by a company controlled by Sarawak businessman Ting Pek Khiing.

In fact so many promises have been made in the course of the campaign that even reporters covering some of the party events have heard of some party members being teased as being "Senator So and So" and "Yang Berhormat So and So."

But if anyone harbours hopes of being appointed to any of the local councils, he or she may have to wait till the end of the year.

William Mawan, the minister of public health and environment whose responsibilities extend to local government matters, including appointment of councilors, has informed some top PBDS leaders thatthe appointment of new councilors is unlikely to be announced till year-end.

The Tajem-Salang faction apparently does not seem to mind this very much.

Leaders of both factions have been busy going to the ground to drum up support through visits to longhouses and villages, throwing dinners and lunches, for their own lists of candidates.

The party's supreme council consists of 32 members, but not all of them are elected. Many are appointed by the president in consultation with elected party officials.

Faction's list

In what appears to be a do-or-die battle, the Tajem-Salang faction has drawn up their own list of

candidates for the elected posts in the supreme council.

It includes six new faces bank officer Juro Brauh, businessmen Kisun Munang, Stephen Randi and Brendon Bujang, engineer Ruis Jugah and senior manager Presley Siros.

The list also includes incumbents, namely three lawyers Anthony Liman, Baru Bian and Kilat Beriak, businessmen Edward Brandah and Atien Nojek, senior corporate executive Norina Umoi Utot, a company general manager Robert Resli and consultants Paul Kadang and Telejan Luyoh. Kadang was at one time aligned to Sng.

Jawah Gerang, a long-serving member of parliament aligned to the Tajem-Salang faction, will be going for one of the three vice president posts while state assemblyperson for Ngemah Gabriel Adit and business Peter Runin will defend their vice president posts.

Meanwhile, in a newspaper notice in local newspapers today, the party's secretary-general Stanley Ajang Batok announced that the youth and women's sections will jointly hold their triennial meeting on July 24 at the same venue at 8 am.

They will, among other things, elect office-bearers for the next three years.

Both the main assembly and the joint youth/women sections assembly will be a closed family affair. There will be no official opening ceremony.