SIBU, April 24 — Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) experienced internal turmoil after eight of its Supreme Council members were dismissed unethically.
The situation was exarcebated when PBDS president Bobby William and secretary-general Kipli Ayom announced their respective resignations after the dismissal.
The eight members dismissed are Sai Malaka, Emelia Ambrose, Entusa Iman, Sawing Kedit, Robert Saweng, Susan George, Tonny Sepawi and Ismail Lumut.
They claimed they did not receive a show cause letter regarding the reason for their dismissal.
Sai said they received a letter from the president about the dismissal on April 18, 2023 through a letter issued by Kipli, which was followed up with another letter from Bobby on April 20, 2023.
“In the letter we received, the party informed us that our dismissal was made during the PBDS Supreme Council Meeting on March 26 at the party headquarters in Sibu Jaya in accordance with the party constitution in the minutes of the meeting.
“However, when asked to submit the minutes of the meeting, they failed to provide it to us even though they had been given the deadline. More surprisingly, shortly after that, Bobby and Kipli each informed us they resigned,” he said today.
He explained that the 18 Supreme Council Members appointed by the president during the Triennial Representative Conference were automatically cancelled or stopped following the president’s resignation.
Sai also questioned the meeting that took place, as it was suspected the members were fired without reason and a period for self-defence was not given at all.
“At the time, I was unable to attend (the meeting) due to an unavoidable issue and informed the party of my absence.
“The meeting carried out our dismissal, which had no reason, and the dismissal was not on the main agenda as no pre-report was carried out,” he said.
Sai further questioned why it was not made public if Bobby and Kipli had really resigned.
“This violates ethics and integrity as a party leader, who was given full hope and support by party members. With their resignation, the highest committee appointed by PBDS is also automatically dissolved.
“There should be black and white about their resignation, so PBDS can appoint or elect its acting president. This is not (black and white) as announcements were only made through messages in WhatsApp internally,” he said.
Sai said the matter has been brought to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for an investigation to be conducted.
“We request ROS to intervene in this matter so that a fair investigation is carried out. Dismissal in such a way is very inappropriate – and on top of it, Bobby and Kipli said they resigned,” he said. — Borneo Post
