KUCHING: Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) is expected to hold its Triennial Delegates Conference (TDC) in the third week of October this year, with all party posts open for contest and subject to nominations submitted by the party’s divisions.
PRS president, Datuk Joseph Salang Gandum, said the main focus of the party’s Supreme Council meeting today was on preparations for the upcoming TDC, which will be held here.
“Whether there is contest or not, that will depend on whether there will be nomination. So, no nomination, no contest.
“Say for example, I cannot contest for the presidency if I don’t have any nomination.
“But there will still be contest in the sense that the party constitution allows to contest it.
“But if, on the other hand, nobody gets the nomination except one nominee is submitted for presidency, so there is a contest, but he wins uncontested in that sense.
“So, that’s how we work on our TDC,” he said.
He said this in a press conference after chairing a three-and-a-half-hour Supreme Council meeting at the party’s headquarters here today.
Salang further said the formation of the new Supreme Council will be determined based on the nominations, including positions from the presidency down to the 15 elected Supreme Council members.
“So, for example, we have 20 nominated for Supreme Council members, but we have only posts for 15 for the elected Supreme Council members.
“Then, that we will leave to the wisdom of the party leadership to decide on what we will do with regard to that.
“You see by way of persuasion, we can ask somebody to withdraw, or by way of the feeling, to give way to let other people to come in either being humble and generous to the other people,” he said.
On the decision to hold the TDC in October instead of April, Salang explained that it was to align with the party’s anniversary and manage resources effectively.
“Our TDC is traditionally held in October to coincide with the anniversary of the party’s formation.
“The last TDC was held in April 2022 due to delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.
He noted that organising two major events, the TDC and the anniversary celebration, in a single year would strain the party’s limited resources.
Therefore, he said the Supreme Council decided to appeal to the Registrar of Societies (ROS) for a six-month extension to push the TDC to October.
“We’re not just doing this for this year, but to ensure future TDCs also align with our October tradition,” he said.
