The Barisan Nasional (BN) has withdrawn its directive to the troubled Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) to hold elections to resolve its drawn-out leadership dispute, a Sarawak newspaper reported today.

Kuching-based tabloid Malaysian Today attributed the directive to BN secretary-general Radzi Sheikh Ahmad in an exclusive report.

He gave no reasons for the decision and did not say when it was made or why the rival factions in PBDS had not been informed earlier.

However Radzi, who is the BN-PBDS technical committee chairperson, did say the decision was made at a recent meeting of the BN management committee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Ony July 15, the BN technical committee had fixed the Oct 9-10 for the triennial delegates conference (TDC), to which both factions had agreed, and also recommended the use of the delegates' list of 2000.

The faction led by Dr James Masing agreed to use the list, but party president Daniel Tajem wanted amendments based on legal and constitutional issues said to affect the status of branches.

Earlier this week, the faction led by Tajem has unilaterally decided to postpone the TDC.

According to Malaysian Today, Radzi said the BN management committee had acted on the feedback from the two factions, to advise the technical committee to drop the idea of holding the TDC.

Radzi disclosed that the BN management committee would meet on Oct 13 to make a decision that could have a bearing on the party's future.

Options open

At the last BN management committee meeting, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud had said it would be better to deregister PBDS and find another way to resolve the situation.

In Miri last week, Taib - in clear reference to the BN's mediation efforts - said that if the process did not get anywhere, " I'll have an answer for it".

There is growing speculation that the Masing faction's proposed gathering this weekend, of some 600 delegates from 206 branches, may determine the political direction of the anti-Tajem group.

This will either mean going ahead with their own election to choose new leaders as a pro-tem committee, or even a new PBDS supreme council line-up with a certain number of places left vacant for the pro-Tajem group, especially its five elected representatives.

Masing is sad

Meanwhile, when contacted, Masing expressed his disappointment with the latest turn of event.

"It is sad that it has come to this," he said.

He said that a gathering organised by his faction in Santubong this weekend will proceed as planned.

"It is not a TDC because we have no power or authority to organise one. We will not be inviting any BN leaders from other component parties. It is a family gathering and we want to explain all the developments within the party to the delegates."

According to political observers, the first option for the pro-tem committee could be either to bring in a new party (if the federal BN leadership agrees) or to set up a revamped 'PBDS Baru'.

The Masing faction, which includes nine of the party's 14 elected representatives, could then invite the other five to join them.

If this does not work out, the elected representatives may be absorbed by other component parties in the state BN - Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu Sarawak, Sarawak United People's Party and Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak-based stringer.