Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC) pro-term chairperson Nicholas Bawin has sent a written ultimatum to Registrar of Societies (ROS) Kaswari Keman.

He wants a decision on the Sarawak-based party's application by the end of this month or warns that it will file for a writ of mandamus to compel the ROS to explain the matter in court.

Disclosing this yesterday, MDC pro-tem information chief Joseph Tawie told malaysiakini that despite many assurances and promises, Kaswari had failed to keep his word.

This has made the pro-tem committee members and some 100,000 partyless Dayaks (after the de-registration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak) impatient and angry, he added.

The letter, dated Dec 29, stated that any attempt to delay the registration was tantamount to denying the right of the Dayak to form a political party of their own.

The application was submitted last June.

Screening process

Bawin and other party officials met the ROS on four occasions and according to Tawie, countless phone calls were also made to Kaswari who always assured them that the application would be approved soon.

However, during their last meeting just before Christmas in the federal administrative capital Putrajaya, Bawin was informed by the ROS that he was still in the process of screening the committee members.

This was despite the fact that the police and the ROS Kuching had already done the vetting, stressed Tawie.

The ROS was told that if he failed to make a decision, then the party would be forced to seek other options which could lead to politically, socially and economically unpleasant situations, he added.

"You have to bear the consequences," read the letter.

Newly-registered Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president Dr James Masing had recently told Barisan Nasional leaders that his party opposed the registration of MDC.

Masing, who is also a state minister, said that MDC could pose a threat to his party as well as SPDP in the upcoming state polls.

MDC leaders have announced that they plan to field candidates together with other Dayak-based opposition parties such as the Sarawak National Party (Snap) and State Reform Party (Star) in about 30 Dayak majority seats.