Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) leaders aligned to its president Daniel Tajem were both "surprised and delighted" today at what they described as the "180 degrees turnaround" in Barisan Nasional secretary-general Khalil Yaacob's original stance in not recognising the authority in the party.

"It's as if there has been divine intervention," a senior supreme council (SC) member who requested anonymity told malaysiakini today.

Local newspaper reports today quoted from a Bernama report of Khalil as saying that the PBDS ad-hoc committee comprising members of the SC elected before July 23, 2003 must now set up a credentials committee (CC) to conduct fresh polls and elect new office bearers.

At the April 13 BN meeting in Kuching, Khalil had said the term of the SC had lapsed and was therefore no longer in existence.

This statement shocked the pro-Tajem group because to them "it is clearly at variance with the contents of the March 9, 2004 reinstatement letter from the Home Ministry."

"Subsequent to that, they must have consulted the Attorney-General Chambers, and what the party constitution says on such matters as party elections," they added.

Contents of the letter, conveying Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's decision is his previous capacity as Home Minister and made public by the party, said the SC with Tajem as (acting) president is to remain in status quo or in place until the next TDC.

In other words, circumstances have allowed the SC elected in 2000, except minus those who subsequently left it or replaced with the new president's appointees) to remain in place, as directed by the Home Minister, until new office-bearers are elected.

Tajem was not immediately available for comments on Khalil's latest statement.

Power in Article 7

But several SC members malaysiakini spoke to and who asked not to be identified said their first surprise was at the contents of the minutes of the April 13 BN meeting that Khalil chaired in Kuching.

Although it was not brought up at the meeting, the minutes referred to Article 7 of the PBDS Constitution on the explicit powers of the SC to fix the time and date for the TDC.

"At the BN meeting, we clearly stated our views on the matter. Nevertheless, the written record of the proceedings of the meeting does seem to acknowledge now that the SC still exists and what its powers are (in relation to the holding of the TDC)," a SC member, who is also a lawyer, said.

Minutes of the meeting were tabled and discussed at last weekend's SC meeting chaired by Tajem at party headquarters.

Yesterday, in Kuala Lumpur, Khalil disclosed that a BN management committee meeting chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak early in the week had decided that PBDS should fix the TDC date as soon as possible, but no later than four months from April 4, 2004.

No reason was given for the four months, however.

The BN management committee was attended by most component party chief, including Sarawak Chief Minister and Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak (PBB) chairperson Abdul Taib Mahmud, Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) chairperson Dr George Chan and PBB deputy president Alfred Jabu.

ROS to oversee

Khalil also said yesterday that the Registrar of Societies (ROS) would now not supervise but only oversee the party elections. He did not, however, precisely state what role the ROS would play when overseeing the electoral process.

PBDS secretary-general Stanley Ajang (right) is expected to write officially to the ROS on this and other matters connected with the preparations in holding the TDC.

He said although Khalil did say during the April 13 meeting that the TDC must be held within four months and that the Masing faction had agreed to it, the SC representatives said they would need to go back and consult the SC as four months may not be sufficient time.

He added in order to set the record straight, Khalil had also said if the SC needed more than the four months to organise the elections, they should come back to him within two weeks.

A senior party official, when contacted, said party leaders were "too busy preparing for what must be done to prepare for the fresh polls" and were not expected to issue a press statement today to comment on the latest developments.