Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) is expected to send its reply to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on its detailed explanation on the attendance of delegates from 29 out of more than 250 party branches at the July 26-27 triennial delegates conference (TDC) at Santubong, near Kuching.

A party official told malaysiakini today that the party had gathered all the necessary documents from party files and was going through all of them all over again before making the reply to the ROS' query, possibly by next week.

The deadline for the reply is Nov 6.

The ROS wrote a letter addressed to the party's secretary-general Stanley Ajang with copies to Daniel Tajem, the president, and Anthony Liman, the treasurer-general, on Oct 6, asking the party to explain those delegates from the 29 branches at the TDC.

This is believed to have followed an objection raised by a rival faction led by former information chief Dr James Masing, who is also state minister of social development and urbanisation, questioning the right of those delegates from the 29 branches to attend.

Satisfactory reply

Tajem told a recent press conference he was confident the party would be able to furnish the ROS with a satisfactory reply to avoid the party getting into serious trouble, including the possibility of de-registration.

Tajem, who along with is deputy president and Julau MP Joseph Salang, and his supporters were all returned unopposed to all elected posts on the party when nominations closed earlier in July.

The ROS has ruled another TDC organised by the Masing faction as invalid. This was confirmed by Masing recently after receiving a letter from the ROS.

"Once we've submitted the reply to the ROS we'll just have to wait for its outcome," the party official said.

Malaysiakini learned that the Masing faction had sought the advice of legal experts on the contents of the letter they received from the ROS as well as the overall legal issues concerning the present party status.

Meantime, party leaders as well as leaders associated with the Masing faction have been keeping mum. Lately, however, based on local newspaper reports, both groups appear to have been spending more time on the ground, meeting their members and supporters, ahead of the forthcoming parliamentary elections, widely expected early next year.