After two weeks of agonising wait for the rival factions in crisis-ridden Sarawak National Party (Snap), the Registrar of Societies Ismail Dolah Harun will be making an official visit to Kuching on Thursday, Oct 31.

The ROS office in Putra Jaya has confirmed that Ismail will arrive in the afternoon and return to Kuala Lumpur the next day.

No reason has been given for the visit but it is believed he wants to meet leaders of the two factions personally to notify them of his decision on the fate of the party.

More than a month ago, after internal leadership squabbles led to a big split with the party effectively having two presidents, the ROS sent a show-cause letters to incumbent president James Wong Kim Min and his purported successor William Mawan as to why the party should not be de-registered.

Suspension

The ROS' visit has given rise to new speculation that despite the show-cause letter, the party's de-registration may not happen so soon.

Instead, according to one school of thought, the ROS may suspend the party like what the Commissioner of Sports did to the Malaysian Amateur Athletic Union(MAAU) and get the factions to elect the new leaders for Snap.

But Mawan, the state minister of environment and public health and the elected head of a group comprising the party's nine elected representatives five state assemblymen and four members of parliament appears to be distrustful of any party elections in which the Wong's faction has a head in.

Irregularities

He was quoted in today's Sarawak Tribune as saying: "Why should we contest in the SNAP TGA (scheduled in February)? We don't trust that the election will be held fairly. Everything is being manipulated. There is mismanagement in the party and there are a lot of irregularities in the membership list."

One possibility is that the Mawan faction might agree if the party elections are held earlier and that the same delegates list used in the year 2000 party elections is adopted for it.

When Mawan was elected 'president' by his own faction three months ago at an extra-ordinary general meeting in Kuching, they used the year 2000 delegates list. More than two-thirds of the divisions that turned up voted unanimously for Mawan and other new leaders.

Malaysiakini understands that the ROS will be notifying leaders of the two factions of his visit early in the week.