The Kuala Lumpur High Court today postponed to next February the hearing of Sarawak National Party's (Snap) application for a judicial review of the Registrar of Societies'(ROS) decision last November to de-register the party.

Snap deputy president Justine Jinggut told malaysiakini that he was informed by lawyers acting for the party that the hearing scheduled for 9.30am was postponed because the judge was indisposed.

The court re-scheduled the hearing for Feb 10 before Justice Mohammad Raus.

Last week, Justine expressed hope that the case would not be deferred.

Commenting on this, he said: " We have a lot of confidence in our judicial system and will wait for the court to hear the case."

Leadership dispute

The ROS de-registered the party following a leadership dispute. Subsequently, former Snap vice-president William Mawam formed the Sarawak Democratic Progressive Party (SPDP) - which was immediately accepted into Barisan Nasional.

Snap then took the case to court and obtained the green light for a judicial and pending the disposal of the case, its lawyers said the party can operate as usual.

Earlier this year, the party elected Edwin Dundang as the new president succeeding veteran politician James Wong.

Justine was then made deputy president while his former secretary-general post was assumed by Stanley Juggol.

However, all of Snap's elected representatives, including Wong's son Richard, joined SPDB. The party is only left with one senator William Lau.