The third triennial delegates' conference of Parti Rakyat Sarawak began in Sibu today with meetings of the Wanita and Youth sections before the assembly proper tomorrow, which will be attended by Chief Minister and state BN chairperson Abdul Taib Mahmud.

The state government is dominated by the Taib-led PBB, with PRS, SPDP and SUPP as lesser lights in the ruling BN coalition.

PRS secretary-general Wilfred Nissom, who is one of the political secretaries of Taib, expects no surprises to the leadership line-up, except perhaps to its slew of vice-presidents, where six contestants are vying for the five slots.

Nissom said a total of 46 candidates were jostling for places on the 15-member supreme council, but even the size of the field, said the PRS point man, was more reflective of enthusiasm to serve, rather than competitive rivalry.

NONE "We are long past our turbulent phase," said Nissom, in reference to the internecine squabbling that often besets Dayak-based parties in Sarawak.

PRS, which was formed in 2004 following the deregistration of its mother lode Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak that year, underwent a phase of fractiousness in 2006 when a faction led by deputy president Sng Chee Hua ( right ) set up a parallel supreme council.

The wealthy Sng, once MP for Julau (1995-99), had long been a force in Dayak politics, alternating between support for one faction and its rival in the parties he was a member, as was the case in PBDS and then PRS, begetting splinter parties as a consequence of his machinations.

NONE But when Sng tried the same divisive manoeuvre in PRS, the move did not succeed as both sides appealed to the Registrar of Societies, who eventually came down on the side of the faction led by its president, James Masing ( right ).

Sng's son, Larry, was sacked for insubordination from PRS in 2007 and went on to set up the Sarawak Workers Party in 2012.

"With the departure of the Sng faction, you could say that our party has become more Dayak-based and led," said Nissom.

"We can now fully focus our concentration the development of the Dayak people in the rural areas of Sarawak," he said.

PRS has six parliamentary seats and eight state assembly seats in Sarawak.

Nissom declined to be drawn on the newly-registered Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak Baru, the pro-tem committee of which is led by Sibu-based lawyer Louis Jarau.

"They have announced they are BN-friendly," Nissom pointed out, dismissing the threat the presence of yet another Dayak-based party posed to PRS.