It has finally been settled - the date for holding fresh elections to elect new office-bearers for Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) is set for mid-October this year.

This was decided this afternoon at the Barisan Nasional technical committee meeting chaired by BN secretary-general Khalil Yaacob in Kuala Lumpur at which representatives from the party's rival factions were present, along with representatives from the Home Ministry, Registrar of Societies (ROS) and the Sarawak BN.

The agreed date for the triennial delegates conference (TDC) is one month short of the seven months that the PBDS supreme council had asked for to organise party branch annual general meetings (AGMs), culminating in the holding of the TDC.

This is to take into account the fasting month in November, presumably because of certain government officials who will be involved in overseeing the party elections.

Khalil had originally suggested that the TDC be held within four months from April 4, but the party later pointed out there would be practical difficulties within that time-frame if election rules and regulations are to be strictly followed.

Neutral CC chairperson

A senior party leader told malaysiakini that today's meeting also agreed to the appointment of a well-known Kuala Lumpur lawyer Mohd Shafee Abdullah as chairperson of the PBDS' five-member credentials committee (CC) which has the final say on party election matters.

The two factions will nominate two names each to the CC.

Today's meeting also touched on the powers of the party's supreme council with Daniel Tajem as president only to organise the party elections. This immediately evoked suggestions that his recent decision to take disciplinary action against 11 supporters of rival faction leader Dr James Masing's could be invalid.

Tajem was accompanied by party's vice president Peter Runin and secretary-general Stanley Ajang at the meeting. Apart from Masing, who is a state minister, there were party vice-president Sng Chee Hua and former youth leader Joseph Entulu.

Tajem was said to be pleased with the outcome of the meeting, having got the BN to agree to much of their proposal.

The next move is to prepare branches for their AGMs and to choose their delegates who will attend and vote at the TDC. The party has more than 400 registered branches from the main body, the youth and women sections.