Crisis-ridden Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) presidential aspirant Dr James Masing has admitted he may be facing overwhelming odds in trying to win the presidency of the party.

In local newspaper reports today, Masing - removed last week as party information chief along with six of his supporters in the party's 32-member supreme council in the last act by Leo Moggie before he stepped down as president - was quoted as saying "things are now complicated but I will never say die."

In the last few days, the Masing-Sng faction has been faced with some unfavourable news, including Masing's running-mate for the deputy president's post Sng Chee Hua's legal entanglements over an unpaid loan that is now in Danaharta's hands.

There has also been rumours that some vital support needed for the faction to carry out its plans to fight for control of the party may have been denied.

Women's wing

A third development was an unexpected statement issued in the name of the party's women section leader Agnes Lia, throwing her support behind the new leadership of the party.

Lia has now been challenged by 13 of the 19 committee members in her movement, effectively bringing into the open the split within the section.

However , malaysiakini was informed that despite of the challenge from within her movement, Lia, whose husband Anthony Belon is a supporter of the Tajem-Salang faction, is confident of winning during the women's section elections on July 25.

She is said to have submitted the list of women's branches to the ROS through party headquarters. These are branches she believes she can count on to win.

The women's section like the youth section is entitled to send 10 delegates to the TDC which is scheduled on July 26-27 at Kuching Santubong Resort.

First blow

The first blow to the Masing-Sng faction came when Moggie ( left ) quit, allowing his deputy Daniel Tajem and Masing's rival for the president's post, to take over automatically.

Masing cried foul, saying that this had given Tajem ( left ) what he called "an unfair and undue advantage" in the presidential race.

Without control of the powerful supreme council and without a say in the credentials committee (its job is to determine the eligibility of branches to attend and vote at the TDC), Masing sees his chances of winning significantly reduced.

Despite this, he had said they were preparing on their own next course of action which was widely said to include going their separate ways like forming their own supreme council to call for an extraordinary delegates conference and finally their own TDC.

Malaysiakini was told that a Kuching seaside resort had been tentatively booked for their own TDC.

But a few days later, following some unexpected developments, believed to be led to the withdrawal of some vital support, Masing denied there were ever such plans.

Play fair

Next he said his faction had not given up the idea of trying out their chances at the July 26-27 TDC, saying his opponents should play the game fairly according to the party constitution and the ROS rules.

Now he and his staunch supporters are going on the ground to drum up support among branches throughout the state.

According to party officials who asked not to be identified, the ROS has approved the submission of most of the branches that the party headquarters submitted for registration.

But Masing is insisting that only the year 2000 TDC's 206 branches list be used for this election, even though the party's supreme council which he also attended in Saratok on August 24 last year had already decided that branches existing up to that date could if approved by ROS be entitled to attend and send delegates to vote at the coming TDC.

According to most observers and political commentators, there is nothing stopping the Tajem group from having a clean sweep of all the elected posts, even if Masing and his supporters also take part.

The Masing-Sng faction is said to be reconciling themselves with reality, and will be fighting more to keep their membership in the party and only to put into place their plans in place at a future date.

This may have been some of the advice given to them by advisers in the face of what most observers agree and now Masing has confirmed as overwhelmning odds against his side this time round.