With some office-bearers of the de-registered Sarawak National Party (Snap) applying for a judicial review on the Registrar of Societies' (ROS) decision to de-register the party, it is expected not only to involve a long legal process to determine the party's ultimate fate but also likely to raise certain immediate implications for the ruling state Barisan Nasional.

The old Snap faction aligned to former president James Wong Kim Min yesterday resolved at a special meeting of some 150 representatives from the party's 62 former divisions throughout Sarawak to by-pass the Home Minister and take the matter straight to court to appeal against the ROS' decision announced earlier this week.

Wong, who was present along with former secretary-general Justine Jinggut and former deputy secretary-general Edmund Stanley Jugol, was given the mandate to pursue all legal avenues to try and revive the party, which was formed 41 years ago, by a group of predominantly Dayak leaders, including the late Stephen Kalong Ningkan,who became Sarawak's post-Independence chief minister.

They had decided that since Deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had already agreed with the ROS' decision they should apply to the court for a judicial review straight away.

They have 60 days from the date of the notice of de-registration by the ROS to apply to the court.

Societies Ordinance

The right to appeal against the ROS' decision either to the Home Minister or the court is provided for in the Societies Ordinance.

According to legal opinion, if the application is allowed and is heard it is also likely that the court may grant a stay of the ROS' decision if such an application is made.

There is an obvious correlation between the grant of a judicial review (whatever its final outcome may be) and a stay of an order or decision which is subject to a judicial review.

Several lawyers malaysiakini spoke to agreed the whole process could take some time, dragging on for months or even years.

A further implication is a provision in the State Constitution against party hopping and the question is whether this will or can apply in the present case.

At the moment, although a new political party (Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party or SPDP) has been approved and registered and nine out of the 10 elected representatives of the former Snap are now its members and office-bearers, the party has not yet been admitted into the state BN. This may take sometime because the federal BN will also need to formally endorse the state BN's decision.

Tuesday meeting

The state BN supreme council has scheduled a meeting on Tuesday (Nov 19), to discuss issues concerning SPDP's application submitted earlier this week to join the BN.

This is still within the 30-day period that is allowed office-bearers of the former Snap as their legal right to appeal against the ROS' decision.

If no appeal is made on or before Dec 5 and the period lapses, the de-registration is legally and technically effective. However, with the latest decision to seek a judicial review, it will be sometime before the office-bearers of the former Snap will know their ultimate fate.

With yesterday's meeting of former Snap members supporting the former president (Wong) to apply for a judicial review ( which if allowed and a stay order given at the same time pending hearing of the case), what will be the implications on a decision to admit SPDP into the BN?

According to one senior BN leader, who asked not to be quoted, his party would raise this point during Tuesday's meeting of the state BN supreme council.

But there is nothing to stop the state BN supreme council to approve the SPDP's application in principle and decide on the timing of its official admission at a later stage.

Temporary parking

Under such circumstances, according to several political analysts, it will therefore be necessary to put in place the state BN's plan to "temporary park" the elected representatives of former Snap within any of the three state BN parties of their own choice for the time being.

Recent local newspaper reports, quoting some party sources, said the formula for the temporary parking would be 4:3:3 for Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), Sarawak United People's Party (Supp) and Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS).

This, according to state BN leader and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, is to secure their positions within the BN "until a more permanent solution can be found."

However, since Taib made the announcement, there has been new developments, perhaps the most unexpected was the approval obtained so quickly by Wong's political nemesis William Mawan, the SPDP pro tem president and state minister of public health and environment, on the registration of his new party.

The suddenness of the ROS' decision to approve SPDP's registration had taken a number of top state BN leaders by surprise. There is much speculation as to why such approval had been given so quickly to SPDP.

The man behind

One man working quietly behind the scene to get the party registered as soon as the application was submitted on the same day the ROS decided to de-register Snap is the member of parliament for Bintulu Tiong King Sing ( photo). His sacking from Snap by a central executive committee under the control of Wong precipitated the escalation of the internal party crisis in April this year.

Immediately after he picked up the letter of approval from the ROS in Putra Jaya, Tiong faxed the letter to Mawan in his hotel in Miri last week.

Whatever will be the outcome of the judicial review of the ROS' decision to de-register Snap, one thing is certain it is going to be a long legal process.

Mawan and his group are no longer interested in the issue. His new party's focus now is getting itself admitted as quickly as possible into the BN and if necessary even to be parked temporarily with other BN parties until the party's official admission as a member of the ruling coalition.

Another likely implication that could send new repercussions within the state BN is the Wong faction's decision should they failed to revive Snap after going through all legal remedies to ask their former members to join en bloc a BN party.

Preference for Umno

According to several representatives who attended yesterday's meeting, they had indicated their preference to join Umno.

Why the preference for Umno is not known, especially when non-Bumiputras from the de-registered Snap might not find a place as members in it.

Another question begging an answer is if former Snap members apply to join Umno as ordinary members, can Umno say no. If it admits them in large numbers, even without setting up local branches, what will be the implications of the state BN, especially parties like PBB?

PBB has, on record, opposed several attempts in the past for Umno to be established in Sarawak.

At yesterday's meeting the formal divisional representatives of Snap supporting Wong also agreed that their group's sole state assemblyperson Richard Wong (photo) can choose any of the three BN parties to park himself until a decision is made on the ultimate fate of Snap.

Although Wong Jr, 51, who is the former president's eldest son and a corporate leader, has said he still supports the BN and will decide soon on which of the three parties to join as a temporary member, speculation is that he may now want to join PBDS, a breakaway group of Snap following the 1981 party crisis.

Another BN component party he can choose to park in for the time being is Supp. If he still aspires to continue as state assemblyperson for Limbang beyond the current term, according to political analysts, chances are better if he joins a party that is more willing to fight to keep that seat for him and the party.

Asked if Wong Jr had sent feelers around, PBDS president Leo Moggie (photo) said after a party supreme council meeting in Kuching yesterday afternoon, that the party had not received any application from Wong and was therefore unable to comment on it.

Besides, he added, from newspaper reports he understood that certain former Snap leaders were also going to court to appeal against the ROS' decision.

On whether former Snap members would be admitted as members of PBDS, he said each case or application would be considered on the basis of its own merits.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini correspondent based in Kuching, Sarawak.