Seventeen Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) branch leaders today demanded that former information chief Dr James Masing and his other supporters to resign from their government posts.

In a signed press statement, they said that Masing and two assistant ministers Dublin Unting and Joseph Entulu had "failed in the effort to protect, safeguard and enhance the interests of the party and the Dayak community."

"If they are gentlemen enough, they should offer to resign their posts voluntarily without causing further damage to party unity and solidarity," they added.

The 17 were leaders of the branches of Kepayang, Temina, Foochow, Ladang Samarahan, Entanggor, Merdang Sambir, Sampung Tebun, Sajaya,Quap Tawi, Empila, Tuang, Beliong, Sidanu,Semaran, Raba, Senayang and Sebangan.

Below-the-belt tactics

Congratulating Daniel Tajem and Joseph Salang on being returned unopposed as president and deputy president of the party as well as others elected unopposed on Friday, the 17 branch leaders said their victory had shown that Masing and the other leaders aligned to him had "failed in their plan to pose a challenge to the party leadership, despite the fact that they have resorted to below-the-belt tactics."

"In light of the recent development, we call upon Masing, Entulu and Dublin to resign their posts in the state cabinet, as they no longer enjoy the support and confidence of the party."

They added that they should allow other leaders "who place the interests of the party and community above their own" to replace them in the cabinet. PBDS is allocated one full minister two assistant minister and two political secretary posts.

The statement also urged the party's new leadership to inform the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is also chairperson of the state Barisan Nasional, of the change in leadership of the party and at the same time to affirm their commitment and pledge of loyalty to the BN.

Taib has so far refused to be drawn publicly into making comments that would indicate he may be taking sides. After a meet-the-people session in a Malay coastal village near Kuching yesterday, he declined to comment when asked for his views on the new line-up in PBDS

None of the PBDS ministers was nominated by the branches that were vetted and accredited by the party's powerful credentials committee, chaired by Dr Jawie Masing, set up to assess eligibility of branches to attend and send delegates to vote at the forthcoming party elections scheduled on July 26-27.

But in off-the-cuff remarks that two newspapers reported today, Taib was also reported as saying that he hoped the two factions could patch up their differences in their own ways without his intervention.

BN seats in danger

He had said last week that he would only intervene if it was necessary "to protect the interests of the BN." He did not elaborate.

But most observers have taken this to mean that since PBDS is the third largest (it has eight state asssemblypersons and six members of parliament) in the four-member state ruling coalition, a split in the party could put a number of BN seats in danger in the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

Taib obviously wants to be able to deliver all 100% of the seats, like he did in the last general election, especially after Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has taken over as prime minister and head of the federal BN.

There has also been talk that the Sarawak National Party (Snap) is likely to be brought back into the BN after a period of uncertainty following its de-registration last October by the Registrar of Societies in the wake of an internal party crisis.

With Snap back into the fold, the issue that the BN has to address is the allocation of seats between Snap and the newly-formed Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), born out of last year's Snap crisis and led by one of Snap's former vice presidents William Mawan, a member of the state cabinet.

Any decision to bring Snap back into the BN will have to be finally sanctioned by the federal BN leadership, and candidates for parliamentary election too will have to be finally endorsed by federal BN leaders.

Mending fences

According to informed sources, Abdullah is expected to make an official visit to Sarawak within the next one week. During the visit he is also expected to meet leaders of the component parties of the state BN, possibly to ask them to prepare for coming elections.

This could see pressure building up on efforts to try and mend the fences within the fractured PBDS. With Tajem and his team already installed as new party leaders for the next three years, unless this is challenged in court, any agreement or binding decision at any settlement will have to be built around the present leadership stucture.

One big question now is whether Masing and his supporters are going to fight on from within or outside, or whether they would eventually come round to accept the need to accept realities and agree to support the new leadership.

"It does look like there is increasing pressure on the Masing faction to talk," one source said.

"And that is coming not so much from the Tajem faction as they are already installed as party leaders, even though they do not discount being challenged in court, but from outside, because the PBDS crisis has already attracted a great deal of attention from the federal leaders."

Commenting on Cr Sudok Mesa and Nunya Ahok who yesterday decided to declare their support for the Masing faction inspite of having been returned unopposed to the youth and women section committee member posts, PBDS secretary-general Stanley Ajang said: "Even though they have been returned unopposed it is still subject to their accepting the appointments. They could still decline the posts."