BALIK PULAU – It is do or die for Gerakan president Dominic Lau by standing as Perikatan Nasional’s (PN) candidate in Bayan Lepas.
Lau is soldiering on in the Malay-majority seat in Penang, having filed his candidacy successfully during nominations earlier today.
Despite talk that the PAS grassroots here boycotted his nomination, Lau believes contesting the seat is the right tactical move against DAP, the dominant party in the state.
If Lau fails to make an impression in Bayan Lepas in the August 12 state polls, Gerakan will have failed again to reinvent itself after losing consecutively in the past three elections, and after its attempt to seek relevance by joining PN.
Gerakan veteran Wong Mun Hoe said the party has no choice but to be part of a coalition if it wants to continue its relevance in the Malaysian political scene.
But on the same token, the party also needs to polish up its candidates so it can compete better with the likes of DAP and other parties, Wong told The Vibes.
Penang-born Lau became Gerakan president in 2018 after the party’s wipeout in the general election that year, when Pakatan Harapan took federal power for the first time from Gerakan’s parent coalition, Barisan Nasional.
Gerakan also made the decision to leave BN in the aftermath of the polls that year, and in 2019, contested in the Tg Piai by-election. In 2021, Lau led the party to join PN, positioning Gerakan as the liberal and moderate force amidst Malay and Muslim-centric allies Bersatu and PAS.
Under PN, Gerakan again failed to win any parliamentary or state seat in last year’s general election.
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Ahead of the nominations for six state elections today, there was a viral message from a PAS grassroots leader explaining the unhappiness among members over handing over Bayan Lepas to Gerakan.
In the August 12 polls, Gerakan will contest in 36 seats, in Kedah, Penang, Negri Sembilan, and Selangor.
Penang PAS elections committee member Anas Soffy Abd Wahid had taken to social media to explain that Gerakan had never asked for Bayan Lepas during seat negotiations within PN.
It was Penang PAS secretary and former city councillor Iszuree Ibrahim who was initially named as the PN candidate for the seat. On the night PN announced its candidates for Penang, the Bayan Lepas seat was conspicuously omitted.
Anas said that Lau’s emergence in Bayan Lepas now creates the impression that PAS has been betrayed by Gerakan.
Lau has sidestepped these allegations, saying Gerakan would contest in Penang without relying on 3R rhetoric (race, religion or royalty). How far the party will succeed is to be seen, since PN is often accused of using 3R issues in its oratory.
Lau’s opponent for the seat is its incumbent, a former PAS leader, Azrul Mahathir Aziz, who is now with Amanah and part of the ruling PH-BN alliance.
Azrul won the seat in 2018 by a majority of more than 5,000 votes, and has earned the reputation of being a hard-working assemblyman.
Azrul said today after filing his candidacy that he will not rest on his laurels as he is fighting Lau, a party president.
It is Lau, however, who has a lot more to lose if he fails to win the seat, as Gerakan struggles to find its footing in a changed political landscape. – The Vibes, July 29, 2023
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