Penang PN post gives Gerakan last scraps of relevance, say analysts

With PAS tipped to take over leadership of PN, observers expect Gerakan to lose the Penang PN chief's post to the Islamic party.

Gerakan president Dominic Lau is under threat to surrender his chairmanship of Perikatan Nasional’s Penang chapter, and has called for his successor to be a moderate and inclusive figure.

GEORGE TOWN:

 Gerakan is clinging desperately to the Penang Perikatan Nasional chairmanship as PAS intensifies pressure for the party to relinquish what analysts describe as its last scraps of political relevance.

Lau Zhe Wei of the International Islamic University of Malaysia noted that Gerakan once dominated Penang politics, ruling the state for nearly four decades dating back to 1969.

Lau Zhe Wei.

He said Gerakan has traditionally helmed the Penang chapter of whichever coalition it belonged to, serving as Barisan Nasional’s anchor party in the state until 2018.

Party president Dominic Lau has led Penang PN ever since Gerakan joined the opposition coalition in 2021.

Although the post was largely symbolic given Gerakan occupies no parliamentary or state assembly seats in Penang, Zhe Wei said the chairmanship still carries weight since the party does not helm any other state PN chapter.

“Now, with Gerakan possibly losing even this symbolic kind of hope, what else can it offer the people, especially the Chinese community?

“If Gerakan loses the Penang PN chairmanship, then what value would it be left with?” he told FMT.

Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid.

With PAS widely expected to assume PN’s national chairmanship, Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid predicts that the Islamic party would move to force Gerakan out of its Penang post.

Fauzi said losing the post would render Gerakan insignificant as a supposedly multiracial political party in Malaysia.

“As the party heading the BN government in Penang from 1974 until 2008, Gerakan’s chairmanship of PN in Penang had at least some historical bearing,” he said.

Penang is Gerakan’s home base, with the party leading its state government from 1969 to 2008. It fell to DAP in the 2008 election and has remained in its hands since.

Gerakan currently does not hold any seat in the 40-member Penang assembly, while PAS holds seven and Bersatu, four.

This has led to PAS leaders questioning Dominic’s leadership and urging him to resign as Penang PN chairman. Gerakan leaders have repeatedly dismissed these calls.

Dominic has faced fresh calls to relinquish the post over the past week, after he called for the next PN chairman to be a moderate and inclusive figure accepted by all segments of Malaysian society.

He also argued that a party’s parliamentary strength should not dictate who leads PN, subtly rebuking PAS’s bid for the coalition chairmanship.

Losing post would show Gerakan not respected in PN

Zhe Wei said giving up the Penang PN chief’s post to PAS would only mean Gerakan’s critics were right in labelling it as a token multiracial party in PN, that commands no respect from its allies.

Fauzi said Gerakan is wary that a PAS-led Penang PN would make it even harder for the opposition coalition to win over non-Malay voters in the state.

“It is a valid concern, especially if we take into account heavily non-Malay majority constituencies on the island,” he added.

“Gerakan is worried that surrendering the state PN chairmanship to PAS would deter half of Penang’s electorate from voting PN as an alternative to Pakatan Harapan.” - FMT