Sarawak National Party (Snap) president James Wong Kim Min said last night he and his party colleagues would leave it to the federal Barisan Nasional leadership to determine the party's position within the ruling coalition.

Speaking to reporters at a late-night press conference o­n his return from Kuala Lumpur after the Court of Appeal granted a stay of execution of the Registrar of Societies' (ROS) decision to de-register his party, Wong said as far as he is concerned, Snap has never left the BN and that he expected it to be treated as a BN member.

He was asked to comment o­n a statement made by the state BN chairperson and Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud after the ROS de-registered Snap in November last year that for Snap to go back to BN would not be something automatic.

This followed BN's decision to admit the newly-formed Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) after Snap's de-registration. Wong and his secretary-general Justine Jinggut then went to court to try and quash the ROS' decision.

At a November hearing, the Kuala Lumpur High Court refused to grant the two their application for a judicial review and to quash the ROS' decision.

All orders set aside

At yesterday's Court of Appeal in Kuala Lumpur, the judges granted them leave to appeal against the High Court's refusal to the application for a judicial review o­n the ROS' decision to de-register Snap.

Although he looked frail, there was no hiding how pleased Wong ( left ) was with the decision.

"The leave for an order of certiori (to quash the ROS decision in de-registering Snap) is accordingly granted and all orders by the High Court to be set aside."

"Snap may now carry o­n with its activities and its business as usual."

With the stay granted o­n the ROS' decision pending the final outcome of the court, state and party flags have started flurrying at the two-storey party headquarters in Rubber Road in Kuching.

Wong said he had directed the doors at the party headquarters to re-open officially today and its staff to come back to work. Among those who waited for Wong's return was the party's executive secretary Joshua Melling, a former senior government administrative officer.

CEC meeting soon

Flanked by Jinggut o­n his right and deputy secretary-general and political secretary to the Chief Minister Stanley Juggol o­n his left, a beaming Wong told a packed press conference he naturally felt vindicated by the latest development.

He said he had directed the secretary-general to call for a central executive committee meeting within the next few days "to tell everyone officially the good news."

The veteran politician, o­ne of the oldest serving in the country, declined to be drawn into making comments as to whether Snap would now be invited back to BN meetings.

But his deputy secretary-general told malaysiakini earlier after receiving the news from Kuala Lumpur that the party hoped to organise a delegation to call o­n either the Prime Minister and BN chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad or the Acting Prime Minister and acting BN chairperson Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Several party leaders that malaysiakini spoke to said the party should now concentrate o­n the forthcoming parliamentary elections which could be held at the end of the year or early next year.

Snap had six state assembly representatives and four members of parliament before its deregisration by the ROS and all of them, including Wong's eldest son Richard, 51, are now with SPDP.

A thorny question now is what would happen if Snap is eventually legally revived and takes its place again as a component member of the BN and whether it would be allocated seats to contest in the elections.

Implications

A senior Sarawak BN leader who asked not to be identified said:" Normally, the federal BN will call up the leaders of all states and ask them to pass up their lists of proposed candidates."

"This list is normally passed directly to the federal BN leadership and not through the state BN.

Naturally, as a component party Snap would expect to retain its rights, privileges and entitlements, and that some seats at least would be allocated to it," he added.

Several of Wong's staunch supporters also expect another scenario where Snap may find itself having to battle to retain its rights to the seats it held previously before last year's party crisis and even the possibility of having to go it alone in the elections.

Although Snap had lost a lot of ground support to the newly-formed SPDP, nevertheless observers say that the possibility of many of its erstwhile members returning should not be discounted if the party is finally revived.

"As o­ne of Sarawak's oldest-established parties that produced the state's first Chief Minister (Stephen Kalong Ningkan), an Iban, Snap still has a lot of loyal support from many Sarawakians, especially in the rural areas," commented o­n seasoned politician.

Wong lost little time at last night's press conference in telling many of the younger members of the local media about Snap's role in the formation of Malaysia in 1963 and that it had stuck through thick and thin with the BN for 27 years.

Meanwhile, SPDP president William Mawan ( photo ), who is also the state minister of environment and public health, would not comment o­n Snap's revival "unless I have a clear picture of the new developments taking place."

But his senior vice-president Peter Nansian, known to have a strong influence within the party, said it would be wrong for anyone to think that what was happening to Snap would directly affect SPDP.

As far as he is concerned, Snap and SPDP are two separate entities, suggesting that if Snap is revived it would definitely have implications o­n the BN as a whole. He did not elaborate.

He added however that a Snap's reinstatement (into the BN) and its possible consequences were part and parcel of politics.