The leader of the rival faction in Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), Dr James Masing, has denied any knowledge of any move by his group to form a new political party.

"I am not aware of it," he told malaysiakini today when asked to comment on rumours of a new political party being formed by his group.

One name said to have been proposed for the new party is Parti Rakyat Bersatu Sarawak (PBRS), the same acronym for its Sabah counterpart led by Sabah state minister Joseph Kurup.

According to rumours making its rounds in Kuching today, a meeting of some of the leaders aligned to Masing was said to have been held in the group's operations room in Sebiro Sdn Bhd office, a company controlled by Masing's deputy president Sng Chee Hua, yesterday.

Assessing chances

They were also said to have assessed the group's future in the party and their chances with the complaints they have made to the Registrar of Societies over alleged irregularities on the part of their rival group led by Daniel Tajem ( photo ), the party president elected at the 6th triennial delegates conference in Santubong last weekend.

It was during the meeting that the question of a new political party was brought up and discussed, the rumours went.

But Masing said that apart from having no knowledge of such a move, he was not even present if there was such a meeting.

"From the beginning, there has been this consistent rumour about me wanting to form a new political party.

"First, they (referring to his opponents) tried to push me out technically and now they want me to get out of the party by saying that I want to form a new political party," he said.

Talk of the Masing group wanting to form their own political party was not something new, however.

It went back months ago when the split within the party became evident, even long before the two rival factions started to fight for control of the party.

Masing admitted at one time that although some members of his group had broached the subject he did not see that as a way of solving problems.

Compromise

"I will stick with PBDS even if I lose," he had said, referring to the contest in the coming months which fizzled out due to what Masing claimed were reasons of technicalities when his group and supporters were shut out from the recent triennial delegates conference.

According to observers, even if Masing should lose eventually in the fight for control of the party after the ROS has gone through the complaints, he is likely to remain as party member or even appointed to the supreme council and be allowed to remain as the party's representative in the state cabinet.

This would represent a compromise of sorts but some of his own staunch supporters, including Sng, might find themselves in a dilemma.

According to many observers, Sng will not want a new party to be formed unless he has no other alternative. "Forming a new party may not be that easy anymore," they said.

Meanwhile, a PBDS headquarters official told malaysiakini that the party has "more or less" completed a report outlining the various steps the party has taken to ensure compliance with the party constitution and Societies Act for submission to Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Abdullah asked Tajem for the report when he visited Sarawak recently. It is understood that a group of party leaders, led by Tajem, will personally hand over the report to Pak Lah "very soon" in Kuala Lumpur.