The upcoming Barisan Nasional supreme council will decide on the membership status of the Sarawak National Party (Snap) once and for all, according to sources.

Although no date has been set for the meeting, it is expected to be held before Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad steps down in October.

Sources told malaysiakini that the outgoing premier will decide on Snap's status which has been in doubt since the Registrar of Societies (ROS) de-registered it last November following a leadership tussle between its former president James Wong and then vice-president William Mawan.

Wong and the party's former secretary-general Justine Jinggut subsequently applied for a judicial review of the ROS' decision. Pending the final outcome, the Court of Appeal has allowed a stay of execution.

This led Wong to claim that "its business as usual in Snap". While his rival Mawan formed a separate party - Sarawak Progressive Democratic (SPDP) - which has seen be admitted into the BN.

Following the court's decision, Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud was quoted as saying to the effect that Snap would have to re-apply to join the BN.

However, Snap's new president Edwin Dundang and his committee disagreed. They claimed that the party has neither withdrew nor sacked from the ruling front.

'Positive indications'

Edwin recently led a team of senior party leaders to meet Mahathir and later said there were "positive indications" from the premier.

Malaysiakini

learnt that the full account of what transpired during the leadership tussle has been relayed to the prime minister and the new Snap leadership was confident that Mahathir "will clear the air once and for all".

According to reliable sources, Mahathir wanted to make an announcement regarding the matter during his recent visit to Miri but the scheduled press conference was cancelled for some reason.

Apart from its doubtful status within the ruling coalition, Snap is also left without a single elected representative.

All its five state assemblypersons and four members of parliament are now with Mawan's SPDP. Among this list, is the former president Wong's son.

According to observers, if Snap's membership is reinstated, one thorny question will be the allocation of seats for the parliamentary elections.

If Edwin has his way, he wants all four parliamentary seats to be retained by Snap, leaving SPDP with none.

But most observers agreed that at best Snap may be given one - that is Betong - where the incumbent Peter Tinggom, a former deputy federal minister, is not seeking re-election.

Or the party is offered a senator post instead, which would go to Edwin. Presently, Snap has one senator William Lau, a Sibu-based lawyer-businessman, whose term expires in a year.