Down but not out this is what lawyer Anthony Liman said after suffering a double blow to his electoral aspirations.

He was defeated in the March 21 general election, when he stood as a candidate for the opposition Sarawak National Party (Snap) in the Selangau parliamentary seat.

On Monday, he was forced to withdraw his election petition filed in the Sibu High Court against Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Joseph Entulu, who won the seat.

"No, I am not about to give up politics. I want to concentrate more on my legal practice for the time being," he told malaysiakini after the election court allowed his application for the withdrawal. It was to have heard the petition today.

Liman, a bank officer turned lawyer, said he had instructed his lawyer Baru Bian to withdraw the petition after learning that an employee of a legal firm in Kuala Lumpur had failed to serve the papers personally on Entulu as required by election law.

Entulu is deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department located in Putrajaya.

Conceding this was "a bad mistake", Liman said the employee concerned had signed an affidavit attesting to the personal service.

Later, however, the person admitted that he had not personally served the papers on Entulu, but that a staff-member in the Prime Minister's Department had taken receipt of these.

Liman said he then instructed his lawyer to notify Entulu's lawyer Awang Bemee, who is also BN state assemblyperson for Nangka.

"I didn't want to waste everyone's time. I didn't want counsel for the respondent to prepare all the necessary papers when I knew very well the High Court would allow a motion to strike out the election petition," Liman explained.

'Costly error'

Still looking disappointed, Liman - who had resigned as Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) supreme council member and as party member to stand on a Snap ticket - said he had gone to a lot of expense "for nothing".

High Court judge Clement Alan Skinner ordered Liman's RM10,000 deposit to be forfeited and paid to cover Entulu's legal costs.

Liman, however, expressed the hope that the police would act on voters' allegations of corrupt practices against Entulu.

"I am told the investigation papers have been sent to the state police headquarters," he said, adding it was difficult to predict if the matter would lead to prosecution.

Entulu of PBDS won the election with a 3,616-vote margin by polling 7,876 votes in a straight fight with Liman.

Two election petitions were filed in Sarawak after the results of the parliamentary election were gazetted on April 12. The state-level elections are only due in September 2006.

The other petition was filed by DAP's defeated candidate Chiew Chin Sing against BN's Tiong King Sing who won the Bintulu seat.