For the Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) faction led by Larry Sng, it could be a case of 'the early bird catches the worm'.

Sng has continued with his overtures to Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) leaders for a merger while the other PRS faction led by Dr James Masing has no intention of talking about any tie-up until the internal PRS problems are resolved.

Sng is said to be working fast and furious on the proposed merger. Observers are saying Sng is doing it as if he is aware of something that Masing is not or because he knows that the political survival of his team depends on working within a bigger political entity.

The 28-year-old Sng is also seen as a man in a hurry - and his regular knocking on SPDP doors seems to be paying off.

On Sunday night, his team was involved in what could be described as "exploratory talks" with the SPDP group, led by none other than its party president William Mawan.*

A source said the meeting held in a private room of a Thai restaurant at KLCC started at 7.30 pm and lasted three hours.

This was the first official meeting between the two sides since the issue of merger was first brought up before the last Sarawak elections in May 2006. It was also the first time Mawan personally led his party to such a meeting.

The meeting was said to be arranged at short notice at the urging of certain "top leaders" of the Barisan Nasional.

Fundamentals discussed

The source added that a follow-up meeting between the two sides was expected to take place on November 18 before the start of the state assembly sitting in Kuching the following day.

"We discussed the fundamentals on how we should take the merger proposal forward," he added..

The Larry Sng faction told the SPDP delegation at the start of the meeting last night that to ensure the merger does take place, Sng would support Mawan to head the merged entity.

A merger of the two parties will make it the second strongest in the four-member state ruling coalition in terms of the number of elected representatives.

Deputy Foreign Minister and partyless member of Parliament for Julau Joseph Salang told the media recently that he was considering joining PRS once the internal problems of the party had been resolved and when the merger between the two parties had been decided.

"Salang is a friendly party," said a PRS faction leader aligned to the Sng faction, when asked whether Salang and his supporters were also discussed at Sunday night's meeting.

The Masing faction was not immediately available for comment on the lastest development.

CORRIGENDUM: * We have been informed that William Mawan and Larry Sng were not present at the meeting on Sunday. SPDP was led by its deputy president Peter Nyarok, chairperson of the merger talks committee and his PRS counterpart Jimmy Donald, the chairperson for PRS merger committee, led his side. The error is regretted.