Sarawak's Dayak-based party is thrown further into confusion with secretary-general Stanley Ajang Batok urging leader Leo Moggie not to quit. This comes in the wake of two separate teams vowing to contest for the party's top posts later this year.

Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) secretary-general Stanley Ajang Batok knew exactly what he was doing when two days ago he made a public statement calling for their party chief Leo Moggie to continue to lead the party.

Ajang, the state assemblyperson for Belaga, had said the "Dayak community does not have many good and capable leaders" and that the community should, therefore, try to retain them "just as the
state does not want to lose the leadership of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud".

"We pray and hope that God will change his (Moggie's) mind and that he will continue to stay. We have tried to persuade him many times and we will persuade him further," the PBDS secretary-general had told a local English broadsheet The Borneo Post.

Party's outspoken Miri division head Richard Wil, a businessman, was quick to blast Ajang for making such a statement o­n the issue.

According to Wil, Ajang's words were not in tandem with Moggie's own view. He added that Moggie had expressed his confidence in the party leaders when he announced his intention to step down at the coming party's triennial delegates conference (TDC).

The divisional chief said most PBDS members respected Moggie's decision to step down as they too were confident in their present leaders.

Wil said the party has a lot of educated leaders, including PBDS deputy president Daniel Tajem.

Meanwhile, when contacted today, Ajang said he stands by his statement that Moggie should stay as party president "because that is the wish of the silent majority" within the Dayak community.

Calculated move

According to some observers, Ajang's statement is perhaps calculated to force some people to come out and declare their stand publicly.

"That way at least Moggie will know who his true friends are when it comes to the crunch," they said.

In a separate interview, Tajem, who is a former Sarawak deputy chief minister and former Malaysian envoy to New Zealand, told malaysiakini he would definitely contest for the party's top post, as he believes that Moggie will stick to his decision to step down.

In April last year, at a gathering attended by representatives from some 160 branches, it was resolved that Tajem would be supported in his bid for the presidency with party information chief and minister of social development and urbanisation, Dr James Masing, as his deputy.

But things have become a little complicated with the recent resolution adopted at a joint annual general meeting of several party branches in different places in Sarawak of an alternative that would see a pairing of Masing for the president's post and Sng Chee Hua, o­ne of the party's vice-presidents, for the deputy president's post.

There has been much speculation as to why this alternative plan has been mooted, and whether Sng - who is seen as a party financier - is working o­n a plan to try and prevent both Tajem and a likely contender for the No 2 post Joseph Salang Gandum, the member of parliament for Julau, from moving up the hierarchy when Moggie finally steps down.

Masing lost to Tajem in his bid to unseat the latter for the No 2 post at the last TDC three years ago in Kuching. At the time, Sng was backing Tajem and his group, leading to Masing and many of his supporters being defeated in key party posts.

The new Masing-Sng alliance has not, however, surprised many observers, who see the two going for broke is probably their o­nly chance, if they succeed, in gaining control of the party.

But this may not be as easy, although the Masing-Sng group is never to be under-estimated, as it is reported they have strong backing as well.

Insufficient notice

The quarrel within the party is expected to be exacerbated down at the grassroots level.

Signs of this are already there, when some members of the Braang branch near Kuching objected to the holding of the branch annual general meeting o­n the ground that members had not been given sufficient notice for the AGM.

The branch is said to be pro-Moggie, and that after the AGM, those officials supporting the other faction have been removed.

PBDS has some 300 branches throughout Sarawak and the party headquarters have already directed them all to hold their AGMs o­n or before the end of March.

Who gets to control these branches is a crucial issue because they in turn control the delegates to the TDC, tentatively scheduled in September this year.