Ruling coalition party deregistered

Ruling coalition party deregistered

MALAYSIA: A crisis-ridden political party in Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ruling coalition was deregistered on Tuesday for failing to resolve a protracted leadership feud.

The decision does not jeopardize the capacity of Mahathir's 15-member National Front to govern, but could extinguish the career of one of the country's longest-serving politicians, James Wong, 81, who has led the Sarawak National Party for 21 years.

The party, one of four groups that govern the eastern state of Sarawak on the island of Borneo, must "cease all activities" immediately, said Su Tiong Yew, spokesman for the Registrar of Societies, a government department that regulates political and social organizations.

Lawmakers from the Sarawak party in the federal parliament and the state legislature are expected to continue to hold their seats and remain members of the ruling coalition. Most of them, however, are aligned with a faction that opposes Wong's leadership and wants to set up a new party. --AP