First of all I would like to welcome and at the same time thank all the delegates and observers who are present at our party's 16th. Triennial general Assembly (TGA) today. Your presence is most appreciable and encouraging. At a time when when we are going through tough challenges as it now, yet there are many members who remain loyal and believe in our struggle and objectives.
The Central Executive Committee (CEC) at its meeting on 16th. December 2006 had formed and sanctioned a Credential Committee to be headed by the Secretary-General and comprised four other members. The task of the Credential Committee was to study and evaluate the eligibility of delegates to represent their respective divisions to the 16th Triennial General Assembly scheduled to be held on 16th. September, 2007.
The study undertaken by the Credential Committee showed that almost all of the Divisional Executive Committee (Exco) were not functioning. Many Exco members are either have resigned or lost interest in running the division. With this being the situation throughout the state, the Credential Committee made recommendation to the CEC at its meeting held on 14th July, 2007 to invite only one delegate to represent each division at this 16th TGA. The CEC accepted this recommendation as it has the power to do so under Article X, 22(iv) of the Party's Constitution.
THE LEGAL STATUS OF SNAP
I am duty bound to explain and clarify the legal position of our party as many members are not quite clear with the situation. As you all may recall SNAP was de-registered by the Registrar of Societies (ROS) on 5th November 2002. Following this decision by ROS the party applied for a Judical Review in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. At this hearing the Judge is of the opinion that the ROS is justifiable in his decision to de-register SNAP.
Unhappy with the judgement, SNAP appealed to the Court of Appeal. The decision of the Court of Appeal was in SNAP's favour as the 3 judges were of the opinion that the ROS was wrong in his decision to de-register SNAP. The Court of Appeal advised SNAP to file an application in the High Court to quash the ROS decision to de-register the party.
The hearing on our application to quash the ROS decision to de-register SNAP was held on 15th September 2006 at the High Court in Kuala Lumpur. At this hearing the judge upheld the ROS decision. In other words we lost the case. However, the judge gave SNAP an order of "stay of execution" pending our appeal to the Court of Appeal. Our lawyers have filed the appeal but the date of hearing has not been fixed.
So this the situation that our party is in now. Despite all these legal battles to revive the party's legal status, we are allowed to operate and carry out our party's activities as usual. We are also allowed to contest in any election using our party's symbol. Therefore, my advice is for members not to worry about the legal process but to focus on ways and means for our party to win seats during the coming parliamentary election which may be held anytime from now.
11th PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION 2004
Our party participated in the 11th Parliamentary election held on 21st March 2004. We nominated seven candidates to contest in seven constituencies.
The candidates were:
The candidates were:
- Abg. Zulkipli Bin Abg. Engkeh - P.204 Betong
- Edmund Stanley Jugol - P.205 Saratok
- Dr. patau Rubis - P.192 Mas Gading
- Frankie Bedindang - P.216 Hulu Rajang
- Dr. Lau Hieng Kee - P.217 Bintulu
- Kebing Wan - P.220 Baram
- Anthony Liman - P.214 Selangau
Although we were not successful in this election we managed to garner 30% - 40% of popular votes in the constituencies we contested.
12th. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
A favourite guesswork of the public now is to predict the date and month of the next parliamentary election. Although the current term of parliament is not due to expire until April 2009, many people like to believe that a much earlier election will be held. Numerous reasons and factors were given, and amongst the most popular is the notion to preclude Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim from standing for election. Dato Seri Anwar will only qualify to stand for election after April 2008. On our part we are equally ready to embark on the ground preparations to face the election. We will continue to synergize both our strategies and resources with PKR and DAP. However, our main aim is to win three or four seats which will make a lot of difference for the survival and future of our party.
STATE ELECTION 2006
At the last State Election we formulated a strategy to face the Barisan Nasional by forming an electoral pact with the other opposition parties namely: Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), DAP and the yet-to-be registered Malaysian Dayak Congress (MDC). The main focus of this understanding was to ensure that we did not pit any candidate against each other. This will result in a one to one against the Barisan Nasional in every constituency. SNAP, however, went further to form an opposition front with PKR and MDC. This opposition front was named Barisan Bersatu Sarawak (BBS). It must be acknowledged that we did benefit tremendously through the leadership and support of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim who campaigned in many of the constituencies during the election. As MDC could not get their registration approved by the ROS their candidates were permitted to use SNAP's symbol at the election. We put up a total of 29 candidates to contest in a Dayak majority constituencies. However, only one candidate won. He is Johnical Rayong who stood in N.28 Engkilili. Unfortunately after the election Johnical Rayong announced that he wished to join Barisan Nasional either through SPDP or SUPP. His current status is still unclear.
EASTERN PARK SDN. BHD. Vs. TV3 (SISTEM TELEVYSEN MALAYSIA BHD) - DEFENDANT
SARWAK NATIONAL PARTY - 1st Third party Defendant
DATO SERI TIONG KING SING - 2nd Third Party Defendant
I regret to report here that SNAP is saddled with another on-going legal wrangling. This problem was actually created during the tenure of our past President and our past Treasurer-General. This problem is now being inherited by the present leaders. Nevertheless the case is now being handled by our lawyer.
SNAP HEADQUARTERS
Our party's headquarters is now being looked by a staff, Bobby Teo. However, other office-bearers like the Deputy Secretary-General, the Youth Leader and many CEC members and myself do come to the headquarters regularly to oversee matters that need attention. We will increase the number of staff as and when necessary.
CONCLUSION
The party leaders wish to express their appreciation to all the delegates and observers for their presence at this 16th. Triennial General Assembly. We try our best to ensure that the Assembly is successful and fruitful. We hope that your short stay in Kuching is both comfortable and enjoyable. Please be ready to offer sacrifice and understanding to any shortcoming which you may experience. Everyone must work together to put this party on the road to success and attain its former status and glory. We have much to fight and struggle for. We want to ensure that our beloved country, Sarawak in particular and Malaysia in general, put in place a system void of social injustices and all forms of corruption and discrimination. We aim to rapidly narrow the economic divide between the privileged few and the marginalized majority especially those living in the rural area. We believe that as long as there exists social injustices there can never be a true peace and racial harmony.
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