Embattled Sarawak National Party (Snap) president James Wong Kim Min, 80, has said that "I can't quit and will not quit until God tells me to do so".

In an exclusive interview with The Malaysian Today , published today as its headline news item under the heading 'I can't quit', the revelation did not come, however, as much of a surprise to most people, including his detractors, who had publicly asked him to step down since he left the state cabinet last year.

William Mawan, 52, the party leader who was promoted as a full minister after Wong's departure from the cabinet last year, has been chosen by a group of elected representatives from the party to take over as Snap's new president.

Mawan was recently admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) in Kuala Lumpur for a check-up after a complaint. He had since been discharged.

Although Wong had informed party colleagues on more than one occasion some years ago that he would be stepping down, he carried on. Initially, most party leaders accepted that, but in the end decided 'enough is enough' and early this year for the first time publicly broke away from him and asked him to step down immediately.

Till his last breath

In the interview with The Malaysian Today , Wong with a picture of him sitting on a sofa at home taking pactically the whole front page said: "I will only call it a day when I close my eyes." This is taken to mean he will carry on till his last breath.

His reason: "You name me someone you think is fit to be the president. As for me, so far, there's none and it is for this reason I'm in a dilemma.

"Since I've been holding the post for three decades now, I certainly don't want to leave it in the hands of incapable leaders, who will not do any good except to split the party.'

On Friday, inspite of his frail-looking condition Wong emerged from a two-and-a-half hour central executive committee (CEC) meeting at Snap headquarters in Rubber Road, Kuching, looking like he was not ready to give up.

Instead, he announced that the CEC had reached the decision to suspend the party's Youth leader and assistant minister of infrastructure development and communications Dr Judson Sakai Tagal as a member while issuing him with a show-cause letter at the same time "for alleged breaches of the party's constitution."

Elect new president

Wong and members of his CEC were clearly angry at Judson who had been appointed acting secretary-general by the other group opposed to Wong's leadership and for placing notices in local newspapers announcing an extra-ordinary general meeting (EGM) scheduled on August 11 in Kuching.

They were also clearly furious at the declared purpose of the EGM to elect a new president for Snap.

The CEC meeting, chaired by Wong, had also asked the Sarawak Barisan Nasional chairman and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to remove Judson as assistant minister.

Political observers see this as the first time that Abdul Taib has been asked publicly to step in since the crisis within Snap broke out into the open in April this year.

"It's like throwing the ball into his feet, and asking him to take side,"one said. "The CM may not be quite pleased with that, especially when he sees the whole thing in the same light as Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad essentially an internal problem of Snap and for its leaders and members to resolve."

Legitimise position

Reporters covering Wong's press conferences note the frequent references to the party's constitution to justify their own actions in dealing with the crisis, even though the party president is left with only one elected assemblyperson and one senator, lawyer-cum-corporate leader William Lau Kung Hui supporting him.

Even then the only elected representative the state assemblyperson for Limbang Richard Wong - is his eldest son and is only expected to be on his father's side.

The other side, led by suspended Snap deputy president Peter Tinggom, has the support of five state assemblypersons and four members of Parliament. Furthermore, even Wong's own side has acknowledged that most of the party's existing 62 divisions are supporting the Tinggom faction.

Most political analysts concur that all the Tinggom group has to do now is to legitimise their position by showing they have in fact the support from the majority of the party's divisions, from the party's elected representatives and that they have put in place their own committees duly elected by such members and divisions to gain eventual recognition from the Barisan Nasional leadership.

Relying on constitution

The beleaguered president is only relying on the constitution, accusing his detractors of straying away from it when pursuing their objectives, knowing fully well that in the first place when he was away in Australia on medical treatment in April, Tinggom had asked the secretary-general Justine Jinggut to convene a CEC meeting and the latter refused.

Tinggom was left with little choice but to call the meeting himself and issuing the notices to members, including to Wong and his supporters. Wong now says that all the party meetings convened by Tinggom's group are unlawful and unconstitutional and even went to court. Although he managed to stop one meeting with a court order it was eventually reversed by the court.

The fight now is at the grass-roots, in the corridors of power brokers and in the offices of the Barisan Nasional headquarters.

The Tinggom group appears more than confident they will win and take over control of the party eventually. They are probably right. Can the BN ignore so many elected representatives who no longer support their own party leader?