Sarawak Minister of Environment and Public Health William Mawan has ruffled feathers with his comments over the delay in appointing nominees of Barisan National partner Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) as local councillors.

He attributed this to the leadership tussle in the party, since the two rival factions want to see their nominees on the state's 25 councils.

The two-year term of service of some 600 councillors in Sarawak had been extended to June 30, pending the announcement of new appointees.

The appointments were to have been announced in January since the terms of most of the councillors had expired on Dec 31 last year. However, the decision was postponed to end March, before being put off again.