Perhaps true to the saying that in politics there are no permanent enemies, or for that matter, no permanent friends, a delegation from the newly-registered Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP), led by its pro tem chairperson William Mawan, paid a surprise Chinese New Year visit o­n the erstwhile president of the now-deregistered Sarawak National Party (Snap) at the latter's residence in Kuching.

The delegation that came o­n the first day of Chinese New Year also included the SDPD soon-to-be deputy president Peter Nyarok and former Snap deputy president Peter Tinggom.

Nyarok is also assistant minister of tourism and Tinggom member of Parliament for Saratok.

They were among the first visitors to James Wong's private residence in Middle Road before noon.

Also in the delegation was SPDP pro tem senior vice-president Peter Nansian, the state assemblyperson for Tasik Biru and chairperson of the Sarawak Housing and Development Commission (SHDC).

He was joined by SPDP pro tem vice-president Dr Tiki Lafe, who is also deputy federal minister of national unity and social development.

The most notable absentee was the Bintulu member of Parliament Tiong King Sing, whose sacking as Snap member by Wong sparked the leadership crisis in April last year.

The visit came o­ne day after Mawan, who is also the state minister for environment and public health, announced the admission of Wong's politician son Richard Wong, the state assemblyperson for Limbang, as a new member of the party.

The party also approved the application of the independent state assembly representative for Meluan, Wong Judat, an Iban businessman, as a member of SPDP after its supreme council meeting o­n Thursday.

Richard's admission into SPDP puts the seal o­n Snap as it leaves the old party without a single elected representative even if the pending appeal by some of Snap's old office bearers against the Registrar of Societies' (ROS) decision in de-registering Snap were to be allowed.

The appeal exercise is seen as largely academic now that all Snap's elected representatives - six state assembly representatives and four members of Parliament - are with SPDP, which was formed in November 2002 and admitted soon afterwards as a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional.

'What's past is past'

Richard, who was also present during the visit by the SPDP delegation, was seen being hugged by Tiki when the latter arrived ahead of the rest of the crowd at his father's residence.

Later, after the delegation left, Wong Sr told reporters they all discussed golf and not politics.

Asked to comment o­n the surprise visit, he said he always separated politics from personal matters. And as an afterthought, he added: "(What's) past is past." But he was visibily pleased with the visit.

Newspaper reports had quoted Chief Minister and Sarawak Barisan Nasional chairperson Abdul Taib Mahmud as saying that Wong had decided to quit politics for good after his son Richard's admission into SPDP.

On this, he said: "You have to ask the person who made the statement to the press."

His son Richard told reporters that he would be bringing 2,500 new application forms to Limbang in Sarawak's northern region to get his supporters there to join SPDP.

Planned visit

Meanwhile, former Snap deputy secretary-general Edmund Stanley Jugol told malaysiakini the SPDP's surprise visit o­n the former Snap president had been planned by the group with reporters waiting at Wong's home.

"The aim was clearly intended to demoralise our supporters, especially in the light of our efforts to appeal against the ROS decision," he added.

He said he and two of his other colleagues - John Lee and Joseph Jinggut - had not been informed of their status as political secretaries.

"They may allow me to serve my three-year term out till June this year," he added.

It is understood that SPDP had already submitted names of their new nominees for the three political secretary posts to Abdul Taib.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini correspondent in Sarawak.