Chief Minister and state Barisan Nasional chairperson Abdul Taib Mahmud has made it clear that he nor leaders of other BN component parties should be involved in Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) leadership crisis.

"PRS must solve its leadership crisis without any interference from outside," he told reporters after attending a state-wide Gawai Dayak (Dayak Harvest Festival) open house in Kuching.

He made it clear he did not want to comment on 'another political party's internal crisis.'

Taib's comment has been taken to rebuff any suggestion from any quarters within PRS who might have claimed they had the backing of the chief minister in carrying out recent changes to the composition of the party's supreme council.

Troubles had been brewing for some time within the leadership ranks of PRS soon after it was formed 18 months ago following the de-registration of Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

Back-stabbing allegation

It came to a head just before elections when there were arguments between the party president Dr James Masing and his deputy Sng Chee Hua over the choice of candidates for the party.

Sng had accused Masing of 'back-stabbing' and campaigning against his son the BN incumbent Larry Sng in Pelagus, saying he had all the evidence to prove it.

Anticipating a move by the Sng faction to confront him with the evidence at the scheduled meeting of the party's supreme council on June 14, Masing decided to get rid of the appointed principal officers, including Sidi Munan, the secretary-general known to be aligned to the deputy president.

After replacing his men to the appointed positions, Masing decided to call his own supreme council meeting on June 11 at his own party headquarters in Pending. The registered office is at another place, in Green Heights Commercial Centre near Kuching International Airport.

Malaysiakini understands that the state BN leadership have been trying over the past few months to get the party's No 1 and No 2 to patch up their differences.

"But the problems are so personal that there is no way the two can get together again," sources said.

Masing even tried unsuccessfully to have Sng's son Larry, 27, replaced as assistant minister with Mong Dagang, the party's youth chief and re-elected state assemblyperson for Bukit Begunan.

Correct move

When contacted, Wilfred Nissom, the secretary-general appointed by Masing to replace Munan, told malaysiakini that the chief minister's comment that outsiders should not interfere in the internal crisis of the party was correct.

Taib would not intervene unless he found it necessary to do so, he added.

Munan, speaking on behalf of the rival group, welcomed the chief minister's comments, adding no-one should expect him to say otherwise. "It's the right thing for the head of the state BN to do."

The Sng group is to press for the date of the party's first triennial delegates conference to be brought forward to possibly as early as August this year as a way to resolve the leadership crisis.

Masing has yet to respond to that, and indications are he will be calling his supporters for a discussion to plan their new strategy, after his return from celebrating Gawai Dayak in his longhouse in Balleh.