Leaders of the newly registered Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP) will submit an application to join the ruling Barisan Nasional in Kuala Lumpur today.

The delegation, headed by Environment and Public Health State Minister William Mawan (photo), will hand the application to BN secretary-general Mohammad Rahmat.

Yesterday, SPDP leaders submitted a similar application to Sarawak Chief Minister and state BN chief Abdul Taib Mahmud in Kuching.

The chief minister told reporters later that the state BN supreme council will convene as soon as possible to discuss the matter.

At the rate things are moving, SPDP can expect to be the newest member of the ruling coalition at both the state and federal levels by this month or early December.

The party was born following the crisis which plagued the now-defunct Sarawak National Party (Snap).

The infighting in Snap led to a split and the party was eventually de-registered for failing to resolve the crisis.

Following this, the faction led by Mawan applied to register the new party on the same day that the 41-year-old Snap was axed by the Registrar of Societies.

Assumed control

This morning, the Mawan group officially took over control of the newly-registered party from the registered prime-movers.

The pro tem committee comprises the same 11 individuals elected at the extraordinary general meeting of Snap in August called by the Mawan faction to elect their own set of leaders.

Others are member of Parliament and former federal deputy minister Peter Tinggom as deputy president, state assemblyperson for Tasik Biru and chairperson of Sarawak Housing and Development Corporation Peter Nansian as senior vice president, and Infrastructure and Communications Assistant Minister and state assemblyperson for Ba'Kelalan Dr Judson Sakai Tagal as the secretary-general.

The elected treasurer is the member of Parliament for Bintulu Tiong King Sing.

The four vice presidents are Tourism Assistant Minister and state assemblyman for Krian Peter Nyarok, member of Parliament for Mas Gading and federal Deputy Minister of National Unity and Social Development Dr Tiki Lafe, the state assemblyperson for Marudi Sylvester Entri and the member of Parliament for Baram, Jacob Sagan.

SPDP will hold its general assembly in early December to elect its office bearers for a three-year term.

Open to James Wong

Meanwhile, there has been no news as to whether Snap's founding father and president James Wong Kim Min (photo) will appeal against the ROS decision to de-register his party.

Apparently, he has still not been able to secure an appointment to meet Prime Minister and federal BN chief Dr Mahathir Mohamad or his deputy Ahmad Abdullah Badawi.

However, Mawan has said that SPDP is open to Wong and his supporters.

The swift action in approving the registration of SPDP and its likely admission into the ruling Barisan Nasional has also raised questions as to whether there was a conspiracy between politicians and bureaucrats.

TONY THIEN is malaysiakini's Sarawak correspondent.