In what was seen as a proxy fight involving the crisis-plagued Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), Nicholas Bawing defeated Jimmy Donald for the Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) presidency over the weekend.

Nicholas, who won with a comfortable margin, was openly backed by SDNU's outgoing president Daniel Tajem. Tajem is also the president of PBDS.

On the other hand, Donald is closely aligned to Tajem's rival in PBDS, Dr James Masing. The former school headmaster was said to have received the backing of several Dayak politicians who quietly campaigned for him on the ground.

About 160 delegates from various branches throughout all the divisions in Sarawak attended the SDNU general meeting in Kuching.

There is a certain prestige to the SNDU post as the body is the largest single union to represent the Dayak community in Sarawak.

Rumah Dayak issue

Donald's supporters were said to be confident of victory and had not expected an eleventh hour table-turning move from Tajem, who countered the allegations against him regarding the Rumah Dayak controversy.

For years, Tajem had been tightlipped on the claims that he had dismantled the Rumah Dayak along Jalan Satok to make way for a commercial building.

However, at the SDNU annual general meeting over the weekend, he claimed that Donald and former union secretary-general Sidi Munan were the actual culprits.

Tajem pointed out that he could not have signed an agreement with the development company in October 1996 as he was in New Zealand during that period serving as Malaysia's high commissioner.

"I did not sign anything in October 1996. How is it possible that my signature could be on those documents dated October 1996?" he asked.

He said he was never given an original copy of the agreement either.

"I only got a copy of the agreement from the SDNU headquarters. I was not even invited to the laying of the foundation stone for the proposed new building!" he added.

On who prepared the development agreement, Tajem replied: "You should ask Sidi Munan (who was secretary-general until 1997) and Donald (who was secretary of the technical committee responsible for the implementation of the project)."

According to an interview with a local newspaper today, Donald said he was not given an opportunity during the meet to explain his side of the story.

Meanwhile, Tajem was full of praise for the new SDNU president.

He told malaysiakini that Nicholas was a capable, effective and hardworking young Dayak with strong cultural identity.

However, Nicholas could not be reached for comment.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Kuching-based stringer.