Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) supreme council member Sidi Munan, who is aligned to the Masing-Sng faction, today urged the party's credentials committee to release the list of branches that it has vetted ahead of the party election on July 26-27.

Echoing the views of faction leader and presidential aspirant Dr James Masing, Sidi said that branches whose returns had not been scrutinised by the supreme council (SC) should not be considered at all.

"At the moment we're in the dark as which branches have been declared eligible to attend and to send delegates," he told malaysiakini .

"I want to know, for example, whether my own branch is eligible to attend and whether I am one of the delegates. I hope we will be given the list soon."

Sidi, considered a key adviser to the Masing-Sng faction, alleged that the rival faction led by new president Daniel Tajem had submitted the returns of new branches that were neither registered with the Registrar of Societies nor approved by the SC.

The rival group had also set up branches in non-PBDS areas such as in coastal Sarawak, he claimed.

Strong objections

Sidi said his group strongly objected to the SC's decision in allowing every branch - irrespective of the number of members - to send three delegates each to the triennial conference. He claimed that this would contravene the party constitution.

"I want to make this clear. We won't be party to a decision that could lead to the de-registration of PBDS," he said.

The credentials committee , chaired by veteran leader Dr Jawie Masing, completed its work last weekend.

It has yet to issue a statement, but malaysiakini has learnt that 144 of the 165 branches vetted have been declared eligible to attend the meeting. This would translate to 422 delegates, based on the recent SC decision.

Letters of notice of the meeting and nomination forms for the elections are being sent to the branches.