Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today that the resignation of Leo Moggie as president of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) would not affect his position as a cabinet minister.

The premier was reported by Bernama as saying this in response to questions as to whether Moggie would remain as Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister following his sudden quit announcement on Wednesday.

"It has nothing to do with the cabinet. That's his decision to quit as president (of PBDS), he can decide," he said.

Mahathir said he would retain Moggie in his cabinet as long as the latter is "eligible" for the post.

"As long as he is eligible to be a minister, I've the right to retain his post as a minister, he said.

Not their prerogative

The premier also dismissed the possibility of another PBDS leader taking over Moggie's cabinet position saying that the party presidency does not mean an automatic right to the cabinet post.

"That (the selection of the new president) is their business. They can take the (presidency) but they cannot take the ministry. The ministry is not their prerogative," he said.

PBDS is expected to hold its party elections next month to select a new candidate to replace Moggie who has served as party president since the party's formation 20 years ago. He has also been a member of the federal cabinet for the past 25 years.

Moggie started serving in the cabinet in 1978 when he was the secretary-general of the Sarawak National Party (Snap). He left Snap to set up PBDS in 1983 after he failed in a bitter tussle for the Snap presidency with James Wong Kim Min.

Party problems

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi acknowledged that Moggie's decision was done in an attempt to resolve internal party conflicts.

"Indeed, there are problems. If not, he wouldn't have resigned, but his resignation was to solve the problems in the party," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

Abdullah said both he and Mahathir had accepted Moggie's reasons for his resignation when the latter informed them of his decision.

"We (Dr Mahathir and I) can see Moggie's argument, no need for me to explain it here, they're reasonable," he said.

Moggie's resignation has brought to the forefront a deepening split between rival factions in the PBDS leadership.

By quitting, the veteran leader paved the way for his deputy Daniel Tajem to take over as president and for the latter to sack rival James Masing and seven others aligned to him from the party's supreme council.

Moggie had appointed 10 members to the supreme council, including the eight, after the last triennial delegates conference in 2000 using powers provided by the party constitution.

However, his resignation also made redundant these positions, leaving Daniel the freedom to replace his rivals with his own supporters.

PBDS has plunged into a deeper crisis with the Masing-Sng faction now set to form a rival supreme council.

However, more problems are expected soon as Masing and his supporters have declared invalid Tajem's appointments. Masing has also said that he would set up a separate supreme council on Monday.