PRS (Parti Rakyat Sarawak) chief Dr James Masing said yesterday his shocking sacking of the party's secretary-general Sidi Munan and several other party leaders was a pre-emptive strike following strong rumours of a move by his rivals to pass a motion of no-confidence against him.

"There have been quite substantial rumours pointing in that direction," he told reporters after chairing a meeting with the party's elected representatives and supreme council members aligned to him at his own party headquarters in Pending this afternoon.

"No party president, unless he wants to quit, will allow that to happen," said Masing, who is state Land Development Minister.

He insisted he had acted within his powers vested in him as president under the party constitution to terminate the services of six key party office-bearers last Friday.

Masing had also immediately filled the vacancies with his own men, and issued show-cause letters to three nominated supreme council members.

With the sackings and new appointments, Masing has gained control of the majority of the 33-member supreme council, the party's highest decision-making body.

His deputy and arch-nemesis, Sng Chee Hua, could not be reached for comment.

Closest allies

Masing replaced Munan, a PRS founder and pro tem president, with one of his closest allies Wilfred Nissom, a former state assemblyperson and a political secretary to the chief minister, as secretary-general.

He also replaced lawyer Clement Eddy with Liwan Lagang, the newly-elected Belaga state assemblyperson, as treasurer-general.

He brought in an Orang Ulu professional Henry Luhat Opang as deputy secretary-general to replace Larry Sng - a state assistant minister and son of the senior Sng - but re-appointed the junior Sng to the supreme council as the new information chief.

Lawyer Ernest Chua, aligned to the Sng faction, was replaced by an Iban businessman Tedwin Ngumbang as deputy information chief.

Sng Chee Beng, a brother of the deputy president, was replaced by Snowdan Lawan, the newly-elected Balai Ringin state assemblyperson, as deputy treasurer-general.

Masing said Nissom, Luhat, Liwan and Tedwin had accepted the appointments but the junior Sng and Snowdan had yet to do so. However, the duo have two weeks from May 25 whether to accept their new appointments.

At yesterday's PRS meeting - first since the shock sacking - Jimmy Donald, one of the party's three members of parliament, Larry Sng and Snowdan, were all conspicuously absent

Masing also announced he had appointed PRS Miri division head to the supreme council as one of the four nominated members. He added that he would bring in the newly-elected Tamin state assemblyperson Joseph Mauh into the party's highest-decision making body. Mauh, a former MP, is still the party's permanent chairperson.

Two headquarters

On the party having two party headquarters - one which is under the control of his rivals - Masing said the matter would be resolved soon.

According to him, the Registrar of Societies (ROS) had not been given the full and accurate information when it gave approval on May 24 for the party's new registered address in Green Heights Commercial Centre near Kuching International Airport (KIA), instead of Pending.

He said the party's supreme council had already agreed last year to move the party headquarters upon the expiry of the tenancy agreement of the old office in March this year to Pending at the other side of town.

But without consulting the president, he said, Sidi Munan, the then secretary-general, sent out a directive with the purported signatures of 17 supreme council members representing a majority of supreme council members said to have agreed to move to the new Green Heights address.

It was on the strength of this letter - purportedly with the signatures of the 17 supreme council members - that the ROS was led to believe the supreme council had endorsed the decision.

According to Masing, one of the signatures - said to belong to councillor Tomi Burek - was forged. At the press conference, Burek who was present said he "never signed and never saw the letter". Burek said he would be making a police report on the forgery.

Masing said the ROS would be notified of the latest developments.

Meanwhile, Masing said the PRS supreme council meeting has been scheduled on Sunday, June 11, and not June 14.

"We will not attend the June 14 supreme council meeting called by the former secretary-general as it that supreme council is now null and void," he added.

Sacking 'invalid'

Sidi and Chua, the party's deputy information chief, yesterday said they do not recognise the letter signed by Masing to sack them as they claim it was "invalid, unconstitutional and ultra vires".

Masing today disputed the claim, saying that their own lawyers have advised him that it was perfectly within his authority to remove the people he had appointed to the supreme council and to appoint new ones as replacements.

Masing said he had not been happy with what had been going on in the party in the last six months but did not take action earlier because of the impending state elections.

He added that he had to act now to strengthen the party so that it could move forward with one voice under a single president and be a respected member of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition at both state and federal level.

"There cannot be two to three presidents in the party," he said. "Sidi wanted to think he was president."

Masing declined to describe his present relations with his deputy, but added that there were differences in the party and that he had not met Sng since the elections.

"He was busy in Pelagus and I was busy throughout Sarawak," he added.

The party contested nine state seats and won eight. "We were lucky to escape with one casualty," Masing said.

On whether he felt it would be necessary to inform the top BN leadership about the changes he had made, Masing said he had done his homework. "The relevant BN personalities had been informed and they were not surprised."