Approval for new party expected in two weeks

comments     Tony Thien     Published     Updated

The leaders of a new party which is intended to replace the defunct Sarawak National Party (Snap) expect the approval from the Registrar of Societies (ROS) within two weeks' time.

They submitted their application on Tuesday, immediately after the ROS announced its decision in Kuala Lumpur to de-register Snap for serious breaches of the Societies Act and failing to resolve its leadership crisis.

The proposed name for the new party is Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

William Mawan (photo, left), state minister of public health and environment and leader of the faction controlling all but one of the now-defunct Snap's elected representatives, told reporters this afternoon his group's hopes were greatly buoyed by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad's statement today that it would be better to rehabilitate Snap through a new party.

This appears to be in line with the plan by the Mawan group to get their new party registered as quickly as possible and to apply to join the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

Mahathir's statement implies that the other faction led by ex-Snap president James Wong Kim Min has little chance now of reviving the defunct party through an appeal against ROS' Ismail Dolah Harun's Tuesday bombshell announcement.

If the Mawan group can get their new party officially registered soon, there will probably no need for them even to apply to join any of the existing three parties in the state BN coalition Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

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