Embattled Snap president suspends rival deputy

comments     Tony Thien     Published     Updated

The internal crisis rocking the Sarawak National Party (Snap) took a further twist when its embattled president James Wong suspended his deputy-cum-nemesis Peter Tinggom late yesterday.

The 78-year-old deputy president was suspended for ' unbecoming conduct and for trying to usurp the president's powers'.

The latest development is seen as an attempt to scuttle this Sunday's national council meeting in Kuching which Tinggom had called.

The meeting, which was initially scheduled for June 9, was aborted following a court injunction obtained by Wong.

In a four-page statement yesterday, the 80-year-old president said he never relinquished his position nor did he authorise Tinggom to act on his behalf during his absence.

Wong had recently returned from Australia after spending nearly a month recovering from a knee surgery.

As such, he said the central executive committee meeting on May 29 that Tinggom chaired was unconstitutional and unlawful and so was the decision to call for the national council meeting on June 9.

Tinggom, who is the member of parliament for Saratok and a former federal deputy minister, was at one time a close political ally of the president.

His decision to align himself with the rebel group of eight elected representatives, including party vice-president and Minister of Environment and Public Health William Mawan, had surprised many.

Time to resign

Tinggom said that it was time for Wong to make way for younger leaders and offered to step down as deputy president together with him. He also said he would not defend his parliamentary seat.

However, Wong has not commented on the repeated calls for his resignation.

How Tinggom's suspension will this affect Sunday's national council meeting is still not clear.

Notice of the meeting, signed by the deputy president, was sent out yesterday.

Wong said under the party constitution the notice should be signed by secretary-general Justine Jinggut, who is an ally of the president.

The rebel faction is widely expected to go ahead with the meeting, even though Wong has urged party members not to attend.

With the recent amendments to the Societies Act and that internal problems can only be solved within the party according to its constitution, nothing can be done to stop the meeting.

Delegates from 52 of the party's 60 statewide divisions are expected to attend.

Censure motions

According to the Snap constitution, the national council can censure principal office bearers and this will constitute the first of several measures by the rebel faction to remove existing leaders and appoint new ones.

However, to remove a party leader, a two-third majority in the national council is needed and the rebel faction claim to have the support of 52 divisions.

To appoint a new acting president will require an extraordinary general meeting which can only be called by the national council.

Malaysiakini understands that the Tinggom-Mawan group first plans to pass censure motions by a two-third majority at the national council against Wong and secretary-general Justine Jinggut.

After removing them, the meeting is expected to move a resolution to appoint Mawan as president, vice-president and Assistant Tourism Minister Peter Nyarok as deputy president and Youth leader and Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dr Jakson Sakai Tagal as secretary-general.

At the very least, the rebel faction will want to show that they have the support of more than two-third of the party members.



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