Two Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders in Sarawak have been accused of openly campaigning against the coalition's candidate Jawah Gerang and for the Independent candidate William Ngallau Badak instead in the Lubok Antu parliamentary seat.

A Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) Youth leader, who asked not be identified, said he had lodged a complaint this morning with the state BN election committee about the duo as well as a government officer.

He alleged that Dublin Unting, a former PBDS secretary-general and an assistant state minister, has used government facilities and campaigned for Ngallau, 54, who had resigned as Lubok Antu district officer within 24 hours of submitting his nomination form last Saturday.

(Dublin is aligned with Dr James Masing, who had been leading one of the two rival factions in a protracted leadership struggle within PBDS. The party was deregistered last December, but reinstated on appeal on March 10, three days before nomination day.)

Malaysiakini also understands that the Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) state assemblyperson for Engkilili, Toh Heng San, was the other BN leader named in the report.

Neither Dublin nor Toh were immediately available for comment.

Denials all round

The two PBDS factions are fielding three candidates each in the state, leading to what is being described as "an extension of the internal feud, in order to get the electorate to settle the score".

However, both have denied having planted candidates to stand against BN nominees in any of the six parliamentary seats allocated to the party.

Masing distanced himself from reports that his faction had placed former party women's chief Josephine Randan Mawat as an Independent in the Julau parliamentary seat against BN"s Joseph Salang (who is aligned with the Daniel Tajem faction in PBDS).

"I could not and would not campaign for Mawat," he was quoted as saying by Sarawak newspapers.

The Tajem faction, meanwhile, denied planting former PBDS supreme council member Iban lawyer Anthony Liman - who is standing on a Snap ticket - against former party Youth chief Joseph Entulu, the BN candidate in Selangau .

PBDS secretary-general Stanley Ajang said earlier that Liman had resigned from the party to join Snap before filing his nomination.

It is learnt that former party president Leo Moggie and current president Tajem will be visiting Lubok Antu to drum up support for Jawah before polling starts on Sunday. There will be no election for state seats in Sarawak until September 2006.