The president of the deregistered Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS), Daniel Tajem and key leaders of his faction are not giving up the fight yet - they are now consulting constitutional legal experts and will likely challenge the home minister's decision in court.

An indication of the strong possibility of such a move was given by Tajem in a brief press statement in Kuching this afternoon after he had met with a panel of four lawyers following the deregistration of the party for the second time yesterday.

Tajem, himself a lawyer, said his group and their supporters were overcome more by what he described as a sense of fatalism than regret when they received news of the party's deregistration.

For sometime, he added, they felt that those concerned to arbitrate with the intra-party dispute were driven more by the dictates of political expediency rather than concerns for constitutional niceties.

"Our side would draw the short end of the straw," Tajem said.

"Our apprehension has been confirmed because of our sense of fatalism," he added.

Tajem appealed to their supporters to remain calm "as we've discovered the silver lining in the clouds of our deregistration."

He quoted the reason given by Home Minister Azmi Khalid as failure of the two factions to come to any compromise.

Later, a spokesman for the Tajem camp explained that because of this reason the group saw a hope in reviving the party on legal and constitutional grounds which were never mentioned by Azmi.

Ultimate arbitration

In his statement, Tajem spoke of the ultimate arbitration in a democracy - the court of law - meaning that it is most likely they will go to court for a judicial review of the home minister's decision in deregistering the party for a second time.

The spokesman told malaysiakini that the idea of forming their own party or even joining an existing BN component party had never crossed their minds.

Five of the party's elected representatives are aligned with the Tajem faction.

They comprise three members of parliament, including Deputy Foreign Minister Joseph Salang, and two state assemblypersons, including former secretary-general Stanley Ajang.

They have been in discussion the whole day and, according to sources, seeking a judicial review is a recourse now being considered.

The group, according to the same sources, may even consider teaming up with the Sarawak National Party (Snap) which too has applied to court for a judicial review of the Registrar of Societies' decision to deregister the party three years ago.

Snap's application will be heard in the Kuala Lumpur High Court early next year.

"Our counsel have asked for certain documents from the ROS which are crucial to the case," Snap deputy chairperson Justine Jinggut told malaysiakini recently.