Three months after a rival faction in the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) held its triennial delegates conference (TDC), the group led by Sng Chee Hua will now proceed with their own TDC this Friday.

Organising chairperson Audie Chua told a press conference this afternoon the preparations for the party's first TDC since its inception about three years ago were proceeding smoothly.

Nineteen divisions with a total number of 278 delegates out of the registered 28 divisions have confirmed their participation. There will be about 600 observers as well as party sympathisers, said Chua.

Chua, who is also a supreme council member, appealed to the remaining nine divisions - controlled mostly by elected representatives loyal to the party's sacked president and state minister Dr James Masing - to attend the TDC "for the sake of saving the party".

In December last year, the Masing faction held their TDC in Sibu and submitted their own list of office-bearers with Masing as president, to the Registrar of Societies.

Sng, who is the acting president after his supreme council removed Masing on grounds of indiscipline, told malaysiakini that the full list of new office-bearers would be submitted soon after the TDC to the Registrar of Societies.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Sng is likely to be elected new president of PRS and that his deputy is likely to be the Sri Aman MP Jimmy Donald, presently a vice president.

Sng's son Larry, who is also an assistant state minister, is likely to be appointed secretary-general.

The present secretary-general Sidi Munan is expected to be made either a senior vice president or permanent chairperson.

Sng also told malaysiakini he was confident that once the new list of office-bearers had been submitted to the ROS, the question of who truly represents PRS would be resolved.

The Masing faction controls nine elected representatives, including three MPs, while the Sng faction has two elected representatives - one MP and one state assemblyperson.

Reconciliation talks between the warring factions have failed to settle the matter amicably.

Many now believe the Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud would make a last-minute plea for the two faction leaders to find a final solution to the party's crisis which has been going on for more than a year.