The Tajem faction within the troubled Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) is expecting the party to be de-registered for the second and possibly final time.

"A reliable person in Kuala Lumpur has informed me the party could be de-registered again at anytime," PBDS president Daniel Tajem was said to have told a few close aides today after receiving a phone call.

Aides speculate that reason could be the refusal of the Tajem faction to accept in toto or without any amendment the year 2000 delegates list to be used for the party's fresh polls scheduled for Oct 9-10.

The sources said Deputy Foreign Minister Joseph Salang ,who is a PBDS senior leader aligned to the Tajem faction, had met with Home Minister Azmi Khalid earlier this week and the latter had given no indication that such a move was coming.

The Tajem faction ( photo ) has argued for the delegates list to be reviewed and revised, saying it would be legally and constitutionally wrong to allow a number of unregistered branches to remain in the list and to exclude a certain number of registered branches that were deliberately kept out from the year 2000 triennial delegates conference (TDC).

If this could be rectified, the faction's leaders said they would have no difficulty in accepting the proposal to adopt the 2000 delegates list for the polls that will decide on the party's dragged-out leadership issue once and for all.

Their rival group, led by state Land Development Minister Dr James Masing, has accepted the 2000 delegates list without demanding any changes, even though Masing claims to have lost in that 2000 party elections which used that list.

Separate TDCs

The quarrel within the party spilled over from the 2000 TDC when Masing was defeated by Tajem, the incumbent deputy president, for that post.

Then incumbent president Leo Moggie, who was then also Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister, was returned unopposed.

Things came to a head in 2003 when both factions organised separate TDCs which the Registrar of Societies subsequently ruled as invalid because of alleged legal discrepancies and inconsistencies.

It eventually led to the party's de-registration by the Registrar of Societies on Dec 5 last year only to be reinstated on March 10 after an appeal to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his capacity as Home Minister, who set the condition that fresh party polls be held.

In a related development, party insiders points out that the PBDS credentials committee with BN secretary-general Radzi Sheikh Ahmad as chairperson has yet to meet although the TDC date is drawing near.

The Tajem faction has said it is going to be impossible to hold the TDC with so little time left for the preparations if branches throughout Sarawak are to meet formally to approve and adopt minutes and accounts ahead of the party polls on Oct 9.

Some observers see the Tajem faction as quite determined to get the party elections delayed by asking for a revised delegates list and by questioning whether the TDC can be held without the branches meeting first.

Prepared for 'the worst'

The Masing faction, meanwhile, seems to be adopting a straightforward approach in encouraging the other side to accept the 2000 delegates list as it is and go straight for party elections - much to the chagrin of the Tajem faction.

"Why are they prepared to do that when they know very well it (the list) does not conform to the party's constitution, rules and regulations? "a Tajem faction leader asked. "Are they deliberately trying to get the party struck off again?"

"Let it be, if it has to come to that ," Tajem was reportedly said to have told his aides today.

Tajem's aides said if PBDS was re-registered again, it would challenge the decision in court and apply for a stay of execution to allow the party polls to proceed minus Masing and his group.

But a group within the Tajem faction that includes party secretary-general Stanley Ajang ,who is also Belaga state assemblyperson, and vice president Peter Runin, are said to be in favour of 'negotiating' with the other side to find an end to the crisis and save the party.

Others, however, are reported to have said they are preparing for 'the worst'. "If and when it comes we'll consider the alternatives," they said, without elaborating.

PBDS has 14 elected representatives comprising eight state assemblypersons and six members of parliament, the majority of whom are aligned with the Masing faction.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini 's Kuching-based stringer.