By a political observer
KUCHING, Oct 4, 2025: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) will hold its triennial delegates conference (TDC) middle of this month, during which elections for the new office bearers of the party for the year 2025-2028 will be held.
At the same time, the Youth and women wings will also elect their respective new office bearers .
Unlike other component parties of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), things have been rather very quiet for PRS in the run-up to the TDC as the candidates go about on their campaign trails to secure support from among the delegates.
We don’t see any candidate issuing public statements or holding press conferences to announce their political stands on any issue.
We don’t even hear them talking to the media. Are being told to keep the contests for the various posts within a PRS family?
We don’t even know what the candidates are doing. Are their movements to seek support from among the delegates so secretive that whatever they want to do must have been chopped as “Top Secret.”
But then again, PRS is a rural party and this explains why the candidates are not making any media statements. The claim is that the Dayaks living in the rural areas, who are PRS supporters, don’t read what are published in the media.
That is why we don’t even hear any candidate holding dinner gatherings, which are considered as normal in other parties. Or maybe they do, but there is no publicity given because the media practitioners are not invited.
With each candidate not making any statement on what they stand for the consumption of the general public, except among the delegates, has left many of us to wonder what PRS is fighting for.
The highlight of the TDC will be the battle for the top post between Minister in the Premier’s Department Datuk Seri John Sikie Tayai and Pelagus State Legislative Member (SLM) Wilson Nyabong Ijang.
Whoever wins the post of the party president for the three-year term, he will have a great responsibility to carry to make sure that PRS will remain united and stable and not a burden to GPS.
As one political analyst had said, PRS is a Dayak-based party, but it cannot to be a party that represents the Dayak community. Only its leadership is made up of Dayaks.
The Dayaks are also present in Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).
The TDC, scheduled for October 18 and 19, will also elect the deputy president, vice presidents and 15 ordinary supreme council members of the party.
The Youth wing will also elect a new chief after incumbent Datuk Snowdan Lawan decides to give way. He is gunning for the party deputy president, facing incumbent Datuk Majang Renggie.
The post of the Youth chief will be fought between Tamin SLM Christopher Gira Sambang and Murum SLM Kennedy Chupkai Ugon.
However, Sri Aman MP Datuk Seri Doris Brodie was returned unopposed as the Women chief. She was the only one nominated by the women delegates for the post.
PRS was formed by a group led by Tan Sri James Masing after Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) was deregistered by the Registrar of Societies (Ros) in 2004.
After Masing died in 2021, Datuk Joseph Salang took over, first as acting president, and then was elected president in 2022.
