The best way to resolve the leadership dispute in Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) is through a delegates conference, said the faction aligned to its deputy president Sng Chee Hua today.

Towards this, the Sng group ,which includes three of the party's 11 elected representatives, wants the June 14 party supreme council meeting to discuss bringing forward the date of the party's first triennial delegates conference (TDC), PRS party secretary-general Sidi Munan told reporters.

Munan had sent out notices last week calling for the supreme council meeting on June 14. PRS president Dr James Masing later said this was done without consulting him and without his directive.

Masing has scheduled his own supreme council meeting for June 11 after sacking several pro-Sng supreme council members over the past few days.

There have been serious differences between the party's No 1 and No 2 all which came to boil during the selection of candidates for the just concluded state elections. Masing had not been able to get the supreme council to endorse his recommendations as the majority of its members were behind Sng, a veteran politician and a former elected representative.

No confidence vote

Although the majority of the party's elected representatives may now be said to be on Masing's side, the leadership tussle cannot be resolved merely by decisions of the supreme council, said observers today.

"This is because Sng does not have a two-thirds majority in the 33-member supreme council," they said.

This probably explains why the Sng group is now calling for a delegates conference which, according to Munan, can be held within 60 days following a simple majority decision by the party's supreme council.

In other words, if the June 14 supreme council meeting decides to go ahead and hold the TDC, it could take place as early as mid-August.

Meanwhile, three PRS branches in Sibu - Dudong, Bawang Assan and Pelawan - yesterday issued a statement condemning the sacking of the appointed members by the party president besides passing a vote of no confidence in Masing's leadership.

On another front, PBB deputy president and Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu made it clear that other component parties would not interfere in the internal problems of PRS and said he hoped the two factions in the party would find ways to resolve their differences.

Signature poser

Observers said although Sng appears to be outnumbered in terms of elected representatives backing him in the fight with the party president, his strength is not to be underestimated.

"He has support from within the state and from the federal BN leadership," they claimed. Apart from his son Larry , the recently re-elected state assemblyperson for Pelagus and re-appointed state assistant minister, Sng has the backing of newly-elected state assemblyperson for Balai Ringin Snowdan Lawan and the Sri Aman MP Jimmy Donald. (Snowdan's father Donald Lawan, a former elected representative, is a successful Iban businessman).

Larry Sng is engaged to be married to May, a daughter of Sarawak tycoon, Ting Pek Khiing.

"With such a combination of forces, Masing has to watch himself," the observers said.

When asked to comment on Masing's moves, Sng told malaysiakini: "Let him say what he wants. We'll wait and see".

Meanwhile, PRS executive secretary Rozanna Ong Yen Yen, accompanied by Munan and supreme council members Ernest Chua and Audie Chua lodged a police report in Kuching alleging that another supreme council member Thomas Tomi Buren had made a false police report that his signature on an important party letter was forged.

In her police report, Ong said that Tomi had signed the letter in her presence and with other witnesses. She also produced documents to compare the signature on the letter which had16 other signatures of PRS supreme council members agreeing to move the party headquarters to a new address in Green Heights near the Kuching International Airport.

She asked the police to investigate the matter.