Gerakan - Multi-racial party? Chinese-based party?
April 25th, 2008 by 
admin
In today’s news, New Straits Times quoted:
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia have been formed dunring the year 1968. It begun as a MULTI-RACIAL party. And today, after 40 years of existence, the media regarded Gerakan as a Chinese-based party.
Yes, I cannot help but to admit that majority of the party members are Chinese. That is one of the reason people regard Gerakan as a Chinese-based party.
During the 12th General Elections, one of the community leaders in Penang quoted that Penang’s Chief Minister have to be trilingual. If Gerakan is a multi-racial party and it is destinied to hold the CM’s position (that was before the elections), they shouldn’t have been using ‘language’ as one of the main criteria in the selection of CM. It might be the community leader who said that, but Gerakan hasn’t been loud enough to deny the issue.
We need to stress out that Gerakan is a MULTI-RACIAL party; just as the public knows that Nike sells sportswear, Nokia produces mobile phones and Dell manufactures computers. Unless Gerakan does that, it will soon become irrelevant like other BN multi-racial entities (Berjaya, Akar, PPP, SNAP).
But what effort have we done to tell the public that Gerakan is a multi-racial party? How are we going to brand ourselves as a multi-racial party? What actions needed to be done?
Posted in Gerakan | 
April 26th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Sorry, you were wrong and right to say that over the issue that Penang CM should be trilingual…”Gerakan hasn’t been loud enough to deny the issue”.
You are wrong because Gerakan Acting President Koh Tsu Koon did go on record to say that Chia kwang Chye wasn’t suitable for CM because he wasn’t good in Chinese. Koh believes not able to speak Chinese is a strong criteria. Is Koh a Chinese chauvinist?
When Koh said that no other Gerakan leaders or members rejected his view public. In that sense you are right. Gerakan didn’t deny that chauvinistic criteria. So Gerakan is useless.
This is the quality of your Gerakan leaders. Any hope for Gerakan? You can’t even stand up for your basic principles, how can you work for a Malaysia for all races?
April 26th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Dear Digusted,
You are in a way correct when you say Gerakan is useless and I have to agree to that for now.
No matter what happens, I think there it still hope for Gerakan IF the members change from within. As a member of Gerakan, I have seen this change started to rise up. The force might still be very small for now, but I can see the small force are very committed in forcing the change.
April 27th, 2008 at 1:22 am
Gerakan is increasingly being seen as a chinese party, much the same as that of MCA and DAP.
The people asks if thats the case then what differences are there between these 3 parties?
IMHO, not much of a difference except DAP are making symbolic moves to portray their multi-racial ideology and speaking out against UMNO hegemony.
MCA will always be MCA as long as UMNO remains a single race party. However, I note that they have increasingly been vocal on race and religious issues. Whether they have changed or are just playing politics is too early to tell.
Gerakan surprisingly is just silent on many things pertaining to national issues. We read nothing about Gerakan in the media except when its an internal matter concerning LKC.
What happened to Gerakan? Still trying to figure out why it did so badly?
Didn’t it hear the people’s disgust with race politics? So why is it so quiet?
If anything at all, Gerakan should go back to its original ideology of being multi-racial, not only in name but in practice.
More important, it should re-examine, its continued association with race-based parties like UMNO, MCA and MIC and hence its continued membership in BN.
Even if Gerakan reforms, if UMNO, MCA or MIC do not, Gerakan’s reforms will mean little by remaining within the BN.
April 27th, 2008 at 3:55 pm
From my observations, Gerakan should not be dragged into the multi-racial versus Chinese Based Parties in what was written by NST. The writer could be thinking aloud or it could be a decoy.
Gerakan idealogy is a Non Racial approach and this is the very thing the next generation Rakyat is looking for. This is the agenda that Gerakan should continue to promote.
As an outsider, I do hope that the force of change is gaining momentum and strong enough to cause the change. But so far, it has been dissapointing in the progress.
You have lost approximately 7 weeks, since the GE12. In politics, a week is already a very long time and many things could have happened.
April 28th, 2008 at 9:46 am
romerz,
could it be because of the mainstream media (MSM) that Gerakan seems to be quiet on national issues. As from what I heard from the grassroots members, normal members, and lower position members; they have been critical of the national issues. Could it be because the MSM is under the control of other parties so that they didn’t put much attention to Gerakan? Perhaps you could share your knowledge on this.
You are right when you say that “Even if Gerakan reforms, if UMNO, MCA or MIC do not, Gerakan’s reforms will mean little by remaining within the BN.” I think that Gerakan have to give the other parties in BN a timeframe. If they couldn’t reform within the certain period, Gerakan should leave BN.
reinventing,
The grassroots and normal members in Gerakan certainly wanted progress, reform and change ASAP. But I’m not sure whether the message didn’t reach the top of the leadership or they are not suitable to lead. Anyhow, we the members certainly will keep on pushing.
April 29th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Dear all,
as we are aware, the party polls is schedule on 18th Oct 2008.
I’hv the sense that not much changes will be made at the top level, either from the President or down to the CC.
More or less, it will still be the same batch of leaders.
Now, my questions is, do they really know what is the expectations from the grassroots? Do they listen and hear from the grassroots? If they are elected again, do they have the guts and abilities in carry out the reforms and rejuvenation ?
I could forsee that there will be a very strong and tough fight from Divisions Level to State as well as the National Level.
Competition is good, it shows the democracy we have in the parti.
I’m wondering about those who are challenging for the positions, are they really can help and save the parti? or it is for their own political agenda?
I think, everyone should think wisely and rationally before further action.
April 29th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
Dear youth,
I don’t really know why the leadership of the party has been so silent since 8 March, but at least now they are moving.
As of the last 3 days, there has been a lot more news items attributed to Gerakan and today we have the 1st public sign of disagreement within the lower ranks of the party over the LKC issue.
I can’t go into much except that I had a telephone conversation on the 25th with the acting president and he said he has been very busy.
However, he did mention that things are settling down a bit now and he should have enough time to organize dialog sessions with the grassroots and supporters at large in about 2 weeks time.
So why don’t we wait until then and see how the leadership respond to the feedback from the ground.
He did complain to me that emails from me and others are not getting through to him and he is going to fix the communication channels for people to voice their opinions.
Dear Jeff Chua,
The party elections is something we have to wait and see.
If it is ‘full-blown’ electoral process then at least we can take heart that it is the members’ choice of direction forward.
If it is more ‘negotiated outcomes’ then I’m sorry to say that the leadership obviously haven’t heard the rakyat.
But at least wait until then to decide what you should do. October is not that far away.
April 30th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Fat hope for change in Gerakan’s leadership. The Group led by TanKee Kwong in support of LKC comes from KERK. Why they support LKC? They want to jump ship too?
But I agree with them the old man KengYaik must go.
How can Acting President still want DIALOGUES??? Not enough? My god. If he does not give direction he will be ousted too by Party’s small tsunami.
Kengyaik has been speaking. See below report from Malaysiakini today:
PM’s silence made Dr M look right
Soon Li Tsin and Francis Paul | Apr 30, 08 3:29pm
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s refusal to counter his predecessor’s scathing criticisms gave the impression that Dr Mahathir Mohamad was speaking the truth.
Stating that the prime minister was wrong in keeping quiet, Gerakan advisor Dr Lim Keng Yaik said the criticisms eventually had an impact on the March 8 polls.
“Mahathir’s (criticism) has in a way affected them (Umno and Barisan Nasional). He may be a single ordinary citizen but he is a super citizen because he has been PM for 22 years.
“If the leadership of Pak Lah and Umno feels that Mahathir is wrong and what he says is wrong, they have every right to expel him and not be worried.
“Tell the rakyat what he said is wrong. If he keeps on saying things and you don’t respond, then whatever he’s saying must be right,” he told Malaysiakini in an exclusive interview held at his new Selangor party office in Bandar Utama on Monday.
The outspoken politician, who stepped down as Gerakan president after 26 years, also took Mahathir to task for his lack of tact.
“(His) criticisms may be right but the attitude and the way the criticisms were presented did not help BN or Umno. If Mahathir loved Umno and BN, he should not have behaved the way he behaved.”
Clad in a sky blue shirt and khaki pants, Lim appeared happy seeing the Malaysiakini team but also expressed concern that his statements might be “twisted”.
With the scent of Salem cigarettes trailing him as he settled on the sofa, he was in good spirits when quizzed about the elections and called the new political landscape a “breath of fresh air”.
“Of course (I am happy with the results). I don’t call it a tsunami. Tsunami concocts a negative perspective, it’s destructive. I call it a breath of fresh air that is blown into the Malaysian political arena,” he said.
Lim noted that his joy comes from the fact that the multiracial politics being called for by the people is Gerakan’s ideology that has been marginalised by BN in the past.
Umno’s arrogance to blame
However, his tone changed when speaking about Gerakan’s future and its relevance after being essentially wiped out in Penang - a state held by the party since 1969 - in the March elections.
Stressing that the party will not desert BN, Lim suggested several ways to return the ruling coalition to glory beginning with changing the way Umno deals with component parties.
“The first step is to convince Umno that complacency, arrogance, abuse of power must be stopped.
“Change the way how Umno should face other component parties as well as give the impression to the multiracial rakyat that we are all really sitting down on the table planning for Malaysians and not just for any particular race,” he said.
The former energy, water and telecommunications minister also proposed all 14 component parties to merge and turn BN into a multiracial party.
But should that fail, he suggested that 13 parties merge to posture Umno instead.
“If Umno cannot accept turning BN into a multiracial party [...] then the other BN partners could think of building up a big multiracial set up to be in partnership with a Malay-based set up.
“Rather than 14 little parties saying their little bit, (the 13) can be one big party and be the partner of Umno which will have a better effect on lowering the posturing of Umno itself.”
The former Gerakan president admitted that he failed to change the political scene during his tenure with regards to BN adopting a multiracial approach.
However, he stressed that his party did no wrong.
Despite repeating several times that he does not want to play the ‘blame game’, Lim however alluded that Gerakan’s loss was caused by Umno’s arrogance.
“In the Malay-dominated seats, Umno delivered but Umno did not deliver the Malays in the urban areas. Mixed seats in the last 15 years are the ones which suffered the most.
“The non-Malays saw Umno’s arrogance, the ‘ketuanan Melayu’ (Malay supremacy), waving of the keris, the way they expressed their feelings in the Umno general assembly.
“Of course, we did not deliver the votes. Of course, we failed. But who did the undoing?” he asked.
Solve the crisis soon
As for the current in-fighting in Umno, Lim warned that if the party remains divided for another two years, it will have a negative effect in the next general election.
“BN with respects to Umno is still scrambling for direction and leadership. You can’t go on. If this goes on for two years, it will have negative effects on the following elections.
“People have a memory. If you want to solve it, solve it soon. And it can only be solved by Umno leaders. They should know what’s best for the party,” he said.
With his trademark wit, Lim also predicted that the opposition alliance Pakatan Rakyat, which now controls five states and considers itself the government-in-waiting, will face the same problems encountered by BN in the past 50 years.
“They will face the same problems that we have faced. They will have to solve the problems with PAS just like how we have to solve the problems with Umno.
“They will have to solve the Indian minority problems and everything else equitably,” he added.
April 30th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Dear romerz,
the acting president has gone all over the country to hold dialogue sessions with the grassroots leaders & members. It is so suprising to hear that the acting president still wants to hold dialogue sessions. Still not enough?
Or does he mean that he haven’t been holding sincere dialogue sessions but instead trying to consolidate his power as the party president all this while??
Emails are not getting to him? I think that is such a lame explanation to reply. Here’s a couple of reasons why I said so:
1. Advance Technology
- With today’s advanced technology, I don’t see any reason why emails cant be reached to the recipient even if there is too much mails. He can easily afford an email hosting which can provide enough space for the whole world to send him emails. Plus, even with the free emails like gmail and yahoo… they have more than enough space to keep his emails.
2. Human power
- With his ex-team in the previous state governments, he have so many people to help him out in this matter. I’ve seen and know a few of his young assistants that could easily helped him out on this matter.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:41 am
Dear youth,
I can’t say much more than this except he doesn’t have time to read all emails directed to him. Instead he tasked the job to others to read and channel feedback to him for practical reasons.
Unfortunately those tasked to do the job are also human and with personal agendas
There are many layers before the views from the ground reaches him.
Remember, the present CWC is inherited and not of his own creation.
Need I say more about what I’m alluding to?
May 1st, 2008 at 10:53 am
The words of a man shows his character - He doesn’t have the time !!! Okay, he is no longer running the government and if you don’t have time for the grassroot members or work together with them, I am lost for words.
I will encourage the members to read through your Party Constitution and you will understand what are the possibilities and odds of going for a sweeping changes !!! Anyway, keep your ears to the ground as you can see that the Power Brokers has already started the ball rolling. In the end, you will have a compromised party filled up with leaders with personal agenda than one who is willing to struggle for the idealogy.
I believed other than the Deputy President, the VPs, the rest of other position is appointed by the President - Treasurer, Speaker, Sec-Gen and etc. Some of these people form the CWC. As such, he the acting president can change the CWC component. So blaming on inheritance may not be correct.
May 3rd, 2008 at 12:23 am
Gerakan born to be not a Chinese party but end up a chinese party, a little MCA tooooooooo sad, what is the initial principle for gerakan, ask TUN Lim lah, why today most of gerakan member is chinese , where i Iban, malay, india?