GEORGE TOWN – Caught in no man’s land after exiting Barisan Nasional in 2018, Gerakan has expressed its intention to join the Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition.
Its president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai acknowledged that the party has already applied to join PN after its efforts to emerge as a third political force failed. He says the current political climate makes it impossible for a third political force to thrive.
He added the result of the Tanjong Piai by-election in November 2019 serves as a reflection of where Gerakan stands. In a three-cornered fight won by MCA’s Datuk Seri Dr Wee Jeck Seng, Gerakan’s candidate Wendy Subramaniam came in last and lost her deposit. Bersatu’s Karmaine Sardini finished second.
Critics within the party, however, say the party made a series of missteps over the past three years which saw it head into the sort of abyss from which it may struggle to climb out from.
Lau, however, hopes its 300,000 members will give its young leaders a chance to chart its course.
“No party president wants to see his party go down. We will fight,” says Lau.
Gerakan’s predicament at the moment is a far cry from its glory days in Penang in the 1980s and 1990s when as chief ministers, Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu (1979-1990) and then Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon (1990-2008), oversaw the development of Penang into a major economic force in Malaysia.
A party veteran who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Gerakan has lost its chance to impress the electorate despite the significantly weakened state of its rivals.
“It is unfortunate that Gerakan is not able to capitalise on the weakness of its rivals due to the inexperience of its present leaders,” he said.
He added that voter apathy is evident on both sides of the political divide and that Gerakan was not able to capitalise on it.
Former Penang Gerakan chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan said the highly partisan nature of politics all over the world, and the fact that everything is split along racial lines means there is little room for a multi-racial party like Gerakan.
Meanwhile, a Kelantan Gerakan leader urged the party to revise its policies and to be strategic, even challenging it to work with DAP in Kelantan.
“I dare say that Gerakan can work with DAP in Kelantan. But we will challenge them in Penang. This is the new norm of politics,” he said.
Lau is hedging the bets on his survival as Gerakan president on the outcome of GE15.
But the party veteran said that Gerakan can cooperate with any party without necessarily forming a coalition, if it is in the best interests of the country. – The Vibes, September 28, 2020
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