The Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) faction led by Daniel Tajem has recommended to Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud that the party's secretary-general Stanley Ajang be appointed assistant minister following the resignation of Youth chief Joseph Entulu.

Entulu, the newly-elected member of parliament for Selangau, has been appointed deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

The Tajem faction has also recommended that Gabrie Adit, its senior vice-president and state assemblyperson for Machan, be made deputy speaker of the state assembly.

These recommendations were contained in a letter signed by Tajem, the party president, and submitted yesterday to Abdul Taib, who is also state Barisan Nasional chairperson.

Malaysiakini

understands that the rival PBDS faction led by former information chief Dr James Masing submitted the names of faction members - Pelagus state assemblyperson Larry Sng (son of vice-president Sng Chee Hua) for the assistant minister's post and Kakus state assemblyperson John Sikie for the deputy speaker's post.

Abdul Taib has, however, said that he is not in a hurry to fill these and other vacancies in the state government. He indicated during a press conference last weekend that he would probably reshuffle the state cabinet within the next three months.

This is being interpreted as giving the two factions enough time to sort out their internal party troubles.

Iban not represented

Meanwhile, Lubok Antu MP Jawah Gerang expressed disappointment that the Iban community no longer has a ministerial representative in the federal cabinet.

Jawah, who described this as "regrettable and unfortunate" in a press statement, said two Iban had been made ministers in the past - Temenggong Jugah anak Barieng and Leo Moggie.

He noted that the Iban community makes up about one-third of Sarawak's 2.2 million population and that there are at least nine Iban-majority parliamentary seats out of the total of 28 in Sarawak.

Jawah added that, although there were some Iban deputy ministers, "they do are not in the cabinet proper and (are) therefore unable to articulate the news and wishes of the Iban community community".