Quitting BN still an option for Gerakan

The new leadership elected next month may consider the possibility, says party veteran Chin Fook Weng

PETALING JAYA: As the Gerakan elections get under way, the call for the party to quit Barisan Nasional has again been raised from within.

Veteran Chin Fook Weng, who heads the party’s election supervisory committee, believes that nothing is set in stone in any political alliance. He said it remained a possibility for Gerakan to leave BN.

“If a new situation requires new thinking and new moves, we have to face them,” he told FMT today.

“You must not say, ‘Because I’m already with a certain alliance, it should be like that forever.’ But the new leadership has to decide whether the scenario is right for it.”

Chin noted that the current situation was similar to the aftermath of the 2008 general election, when Gerakan’s loss of Penang roused many to urge the leadership to cut its ties with BN.

Becoming an opposition party will not be strange to Gerakan. The party was founded as an opposition party in 1968. It captured Penang the following year, ousting the Umno-MCA-MIC alliance.

Chin said that after the 2008 polls, party leaders travelled the entire nation for months to deliberate on a proposal to quit BN.

Five years later, in last May’s general election, Gerakan not only failed to recover lost ground, but came close to being wiped out altogether. It won only one parliament seat and three states seats.

Chin said it was so humiliating that party members would console themselves by saying that the party did well enough in contests where it lost by 4,000 votes.

“This was the first time in Penang history that two BN candidates lost their deposits in the elections. Luckily, they are not from Gerakan.”

Chin said it would be up to the wisdom of the new leaders to examine last election’s results and decide in the party’s best interest.

But he added that Gerakan retained “strong sentiments” as a member of BN, cautioning that he was speaking as a founding member of the coalition.

Commenting on the ongoing party elections, Chin said there was a healthy trend of veteran leaders stepping down on their own will in favour of new blood.

Five of the 13 divisions in Penang have ushered in new leaders, and in Negeri Sembilan last weekend Choong Vee Hing took over as state party chief.

Penang Gerakan will conduct its election on Sept 15, while Sabah Gerakan, which has been dubbed the party’s “life-saving straw” for contributing two state seats in the last general election, will vote on Sept 28.

Chin believes that a blend of old and new leaders will do wonders for the 45-year-old party.

“The old leaders have the experience and knowledge, while the young ones have enthusiasm and appeal with the voters,” he said. “They must work together.”