Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) president Daniel Tajem today said he would leave it to 'the wisdom' of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to decide on the legal status of the rival supreme council.

He was commenting on the formation of a separate supreme council yesterday in Bintulu by a rival faction which elected former information chief and state minister Dr James Masing as president and Sng Chee Hua as deputy president.

Speaking to reporters after chairing the PBDS supreme council meeting, Tajem said his group would submit a detailed report on what has transpired to date to the ROS immediately after tomorrow' triennial delegates conference (TDC).

He added that a team of party officials were also finalising another report which Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had requested when he met Tajem and two other PBDS leaders in Kuching last week.

No de-registration

The president said he did not believe the internal problems would escalate to a point where the ROS would be force to de-register the party .

"No, I don't think it will come to that," he replied when asked.

Tajem said he believed the ROS would most likely make a ruling similar to that in the case of Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) which was also mired by an internal party crisis between the faction led by president Joseph Kurup and another by his then deputy Dr Jeffrey Kitingan.

In the case of PBRS, the ROS ruled that the main body elected by Kurup's faction was the legitimate one.

Tajem also ruled out the possibility of the ROS ordering a fresh party election as advocated by his rivals.

Meanwhile, the president stressed that the recent developments would not deter the TDC from taking place tomorrow. The meet will be officiated by the party's former president Leo Moggie.

Tajem added that a resolution would also be moved to appoint Moggie as president emeritus due to his long service and outstanding leadership in the party.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad who flew into Miri this morning to declare open the new extension to Miri Airport cancelled a press conference that had been originally scheduled before his departure for Kuala Lumpur late this afternoon.
No reason was given for the cancellation of the media conference.
Most reporters had wanted to ask the prime minister for his comments on the latest developments within PBDS.