A specially-convened national council meeting of Sarawak National Party (Snap) today elected deputy president Peter Tinggom,78, as acting party chief after a censure motion against president James Wong Kim Min was passed.

The meeting, which was attended by 48 of the party's 62 branches, heads of the party's Youth and women's sections and nine central executive committee (CEC) members, also passed a resolution calling for an extraordinary general meeting on Aug 12, which is expected to elect a new batch of party leaders.

Snap vice-president and Minister of Environment and Public Health William Mawan ( left ), considered the de facto leader of the rebel group, described by Wong as recalcitrant, was elected acting senior vice-president.

Meanwhile, Youth leader and Assistant Minister of Infrastructure Development and Communications Dr Jakson Sakai Tagal was made acting secretary-general.

The national council delegates also re-instated sacked member of parliament for Bintulu Tiong King Sing as a member of the party.

The national council is the party's highest policy-making body and meets once a year to elect members of the CEC which, after the recent amendments to its party constitution, now has 23 members, including eight appointed by the president in consultation with CEC members.

Five top leaders censured

Today's meeting, held at the state-owned Regency Rajah Court Hotel in Pending, Kuching, moved the censure motion against five senior Snap leaders, including Wong ( right ) who has been president since 1981.

The others are those linked to Wong senior vice-president, Limbang state assemblyman and the president's eldest businessman-son Richard Wong Shoon Fook, secretary-general Justine Jinggut, deputy secretary-general Edmund Stanley Jugol, and assist secretary-general and Wong's son-in-law Denis Liew.

The national council's decision means that all hopes for any reconciliation are now dashed between the two groups and raise the spectre of a party with two presidents like the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sarawak (PBRS) with Joseph Kurup and Dr Jeffrey Kitingan claiming to be president until the Registrar of Societies stepped in.

Today's development means that Tinggom, the member of parliament for Saratok and a former deputy federal minister, and his group of eight other elected representatives now no longer recognise Wong as the party president.

Party crisis

According to political analysts, today's meeting effectively removed the president and his supporters in the CEC, including the eight appointed by him.

The internal party crisis was precipitated by Wong's action during a noisy April 20 CEC meeting which he chaired and sacked the member of parliament for Bintulu and former Snap treasurer-general Tiong King Sing from the party, for alleged breach of party constitution and discipline. The Tinggom group strongly opposed it.

When Wong was away in Australia, Tinggom called his own CEC meeting, claiming he had enough quorum and set a date for the national council meeting, first, on June 9 but then was put off because of a court order obtained by Wong on his return from Australia.

After the court injunction was set aside less than a week later, the group went ahead to fix another date June 23 Wong retaliated by suspending Tinggom as deputy president.

Meeting unconstitutional

Meanwhile, malaysiakini understands from Snap CEC senior member Michael Bong Thiam Joon who is Wong's brother-in-law that the president yesterday sent a letter to the Registrar of Societies "to inform him that the (Tinggom) group have been acting in an unconstitutional manner by calling for meetings without following the provisions of the party constitution".

According to local Chinese newspaper reports, Sarawak Chief Minister and state Barisan Nasional leader Abdul Taib Mahmud refused to be drawn into commenting on the Snap's internal crisis, other than saying that he would only step in if it affected the stability of the BN.