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| Dr Stephen Rundi Utom |
Posted on May 21, 2011, Saturday
KUCHING: It may sound intriguing but the fact is that SNAP is technically still a BN component party because they were never “kicked out” of the coalition.
However, state BN secretary general Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said for SNAP to be re-admitted into the BN, it has to re-apply as their re-entry into the BN cannot be automatic.
“The reason is that SNAP was deregistered in 2002 and its re-entry into the BN could not be automatic as they need to re-apply after they won their case against the ROS’s decision to deregister the party,” Dr Rundi told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He added that even though SNAP had re-applied to join the BN just before former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad relinquished his post in 2004, the BN supreme council could not re-admit the party as it was still entangled in court proceedings then.
“But now that they are clear of any court proceedings, so SNAP’s path to re-apply to re-join the BN is therefore made clear.
“But I must reiterate here that the final decision whether the BN would re-admit SNAP into the BN will lie in the final decision of the BN supreme council,” said Dr Rundi, who is also the Assistant Minister of Public Health.
When asked for his comment, SNAP secretary-general Stanley Jugol said his party now actually has many options to choose.
He said the party is now at a crossroads of whether to join Pakatan, BN or remain on its own.
“We will only make our final decision in our coming TGM which is scheduled in August,” said Jugol, who added
that SNAP was technically never kicked out of BN.
He also revealed that the party was studying a working paper which will chart the best possible future for the survival of the party.
In the last state election, SNAP fielded 26 candidates but it performed miserably as its candidates lost all their deposits except in Pakan where its candidate Jamal Abdullah @ Tedong Gunda managed to pull in 2,741 votes against SPDP president Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom.
Mawan won the seat with a majority of 1,197 votes.
And soon after the state election, DAP had proposed to SNAP for both parties to merge, which now remained questionable as SNAP was still in a state of soul-searching.
“But I must reiterate here that the final decision whether the BN would re-admit SNAP into the BN will lie in the final decision of the BN supreme council,” said Dr Rundi, who is also the Assistant Minister of Public Health.
When asked for his comment, SNAP secretary-general Stanley Jugol said his party now actually has many options to choose.
He said the party is now at a crossroads of whether to join Pakatan, BN or remain on its own.
“We will only make our final decision in our coming TGM which is scheduled in August,” said Jugol, who added
that SNAP was technically never kicked out of BN.
He also revealed that the party was studying a working paper which will chart the best possible future for the survival of the party.
In the last state election, SNAP fielded 26 candidates but it performed miserably as its candidates lost all their deposits except in Pakan where its candidate Jamal Abdullah @ Tedong Gunda managed to pull in 2,741 votes against SPDP president Dato Sri William Mawan Ikom.
Mawan won the seat with a majority of 1,197 votes.
And soon after the state election, DAP had proposed to SNAP for both parties to merge, which now remained questionable as SNAP was still in a state of soul-searching.
Is there a statute of limitation aspect here? Has it been seven years since? Or has SNAP failed to pay up their Coalition Membership fees over 3 consecutive years? Or are the BN Coalition arrogant enough to tempt fate by letting a Chinese Chauvinistic party like DAP to strike a so-called equal opportunity coalition with SNAP?
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