Former president of the deregistered Sarawak National Party (Snap) James Wong Kim Min said today that he has decided to retire from politics, after having served for the past 50 years.

The 80-year-old politician said he will do so after the Kuala Lumpur High Court completes its judicial review of the case involving his party. The review was filed on Monday and no date has been fixed for hearing.

However, he added that the outcome would not have a bearing on his decision to call it quits.

On Nov 5, Registrar of Societies Ismail Dollah Harun deregistered Snap when the 41-year-old party failed to resolve an internal crisis.

This led the rebel faction, helmed by Snap's ex vice-president William Mawan ( photo ), to register a new party The Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party (SPDP).

"Regardless of the outcome of the court case, I will completely retire from politics as I have served politics for the last 50 years," said Wong in an interview with Bernama .

"I consider this (application to quash the ROS decision to deregister Snap) as my last responsibility and duty as a politician as I want to enjoy the last few years of the sunshine that is left," said Wong.

Duty bound

The country's oldest serving politician said he was duty bound to preside at the "last hurrah" in his political career by making the application to quash the ROS decision.

He said this followed request from former Snap members, at a meeting on Nov 16 in Kuching, who urged him to exhaust all legal avenues to revive the party, he said.

The former members, representing all the 62 party divisions including its Youth and Women's wings, gave full mandate to Wong to appeal against the deregistration of the party.

They also rejected joining the newly registered SPDP.

Meanwhile, Wong said he had intended to step down next February during Snap's scheduled triennial meeting before the coup d'etat launched by the rebel faction.

"I very much wanted to retire from politics when I underwent surgery on both my knees in Australia," he said.

Forgive, not forget

Commenting further on the application to overturn Snap's deregistration, Wong said he was not quarrelling with anybody, including top BN leaders whom are still friends.

"I must stress that, whatever I do in this case is for the party's survival as well as to satisfy our former members. It is purely a legal and constitutional matter," he said.

"Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and other leaders are still my good friends," he added.

Wong also said that he would forgive the Mawan-led faction but added that he will never forget what they did.

He added that most of the leaders now aligned to the rebel chief, were those groomed by him.

He said that throughout his career he always remembered that "there is no glory in politics as you will be forgotten once you retire and you can only say to yourself ... I have done a good job."

Wong said politicians must remember that after all this was over "there is God and Heaven".

Ex-ISA detainee

Wong was born on Aug 6, 1922, in Limbang, Sarawak and began his political career when he was appointed a member of the Limbang District council in 1951.

Five years later, he was elected as a member of the Sarawak Council Negeri (now known as state legislative assembly) when Sarawak was still under British rule.

After the formation of Malaysia in 1963, the then Snap president Stephen Kalong Ningkan was appointed the first chief minister of Sarawak while Wong became his deputy.

When Snap withdrew from the Alliance government later and became an opposition party, Wong stood as the opposition candidate for the Miri-Lubis parliamentary seat in the 1969 general election and won.

He was appointed Opposition Leader in Parliament in 1974.

The 'grand old man of Sarawak politics' also won the Limbang state seat on a Snap ticket in 1969. He served the constituency for seven terms and only decided not to seek re-election in last year's state election.

On Oct 30, 1974, he was arrested under the Preservation of Public Security (Detention) Regulations for allegedly plotting to cede Limbang to Brunei.

Kamunting graduate

Five months later, he was released under a writ of habeas corpus but was immediately re-arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

Wong was later released on condition of restriction to Limbang district for two years.

"You know, I graduated from the Kamunting Camp (where ISA detainees are held) after three years," he said.

He had penned a book about his incarceration titled The Price of Loyalty which was published in May 1984.