Although the Registrar of Societies Ismail Dolah Harun has given one month for its office-bearers to appeal to the home minister against his decision to de-register the Sarawak National Party (Snap), the party has probably been buried for good.

The general observation that Snap is as good as dead after the ROS de-registered the party on Tuesday for its utter failure to resolve its prolong leadership crisis is premised on several factors.

The first factor is an appeal to higher-up authorities and in this case the home minister against the ROS' decision is unlikely to succeed, largely because the registrar must have gone through the grounds very thoroughly before arriving at his decision. Moreover, the home minister is not likely to want to interfere, rescind or modify that decision.

"The ROS is part of the Home Ministry and a decision on a matter of such great implications would have been considered most carefully by the authorities, so it is highly unlikely any appeal will stand a good chance of succeeding," a senior politician said.

To complicate matters further, if the other faction, led by William Mawan (photo), also appeals against the ROS' decision it would only confirm the two rival factions in the de-registered Snap are irreversibly split to the bitter end.

Another option

A more significant development is the decision taken by the state Barisan Nasional supreme council minus Snap to allow the 10 elected representatives of the de-registered party to be parked temporarily among the remaining component parties Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

There is one other option aside from the 'temporary parking' solution.

According to a senior state BN leader who asked not to be quoted, there has been a precedent in the past when a member of parliament, Billy Abit, was admitted as a direct member of the BN before the question of his party affiliation was resolved.

"The state BN supreme council could have made the decision to accept the 10 elected representatives as direct members of BN pending the final appeal of Snap or the approval of a new party by the ROS," he added.

He said there was no provision in the constitution of any of the three parties to take in members temporarily or being used as a vehicle for convenience.

"Do you mean to say when the Mawan group has formed their new party and got it registered, they will leave their temporary home in the component parties?" he asked.

Another question is, of course, whether all three parties are equally keen to accommodate the stranded politicians even on a temporary basis?

"Once you join a party you become a member and must abide by its constitution and be entitled to exercise your rights as a member, including to hold office and vote."

Chief Minister and state BN chairman Abdul Taib Mahmud was rather reluctant to talk about the new party that the Mawan group reportedly is trying to get registered.

Abdul Taib said the state BN would only consider their application to join when the time comes and that it is an issue that has to be treated separately from the issue of 'temporary parking' among the three BN component parties.

Hidden agenda

Most observers hold the view that it looks like there is a different agenda behind the state BN's decision to allow the three remaining parties to open their doors to ex-Snap members to join.

"Once they've joined, their status may not be irreversible," one said.

What this implies is that even if James Wong Kim Min, president of the de-registered Snap, were to succeed in his appeal and that Snap is revived, he will find the party left without any elected representatives, except for his eldest son Richard, the state assemblyperson for Limbang.

The scenario then is of a revived Snap will find its original number of seat allocation for both state and parliamentary elections significantly reduced to probably only two or three at best.

This is because the rest of the elected representatives would have been absorbed by the other parties and their numbers become entrenched accordingly.

Besides, several of the elected representatives of the de-registered Snap were last-minute picks approved by the top BN leadership before the last state and parliamentary elections, and conveniently parachuted into Snap to fill up the seat quota allocated to the party within the four-member ruling coalition at the state level.

Wong himself had admitted at the height of the crisis his own regret at having agreed to several outside recommendations on certain candidates for his party in the last elections.

"Many of the younger YBs [elected representatives] hardly knew of Snap and its history. They agreed to become Snap members because they were chosen as candidates to stand on a BN ticket," he said.

Said another BN leader: "Wong must surely realise now that he has not only lost the battle but also the war, not only after the de-registration of Snap but also because of the decision taken by the BN supreme council."

Wong to blame

Besides, local papers yesterday highlighted not only the chronology of events leading to the party's de-registration but also its history dating back to the formation of the party in 1961 by a group of educated Dayak leaders, including Stephen Kalong Ningkan, to articulate the hopes and aspirations of the Dayak community.

Older surviving members were sad at the party's demise and many members have publicly blamed the ROS for his decision. Questions are also being asked as to who to blame for bringing the party to its sad fate.

If Wong had agreed much earlier to step down voluntarily and given way to Mawan, would they have prevented a split and avoided the death for the party?

"He [Wong] has brought all this upon himself, not to say, for causing the death of Snap," one of his critics said.

"What good will it do him and his members should he manage to bring Snap back with only one elected representative in the party?"

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini correspondent based in Kuching, Sarawak.