Lau-Oh combo vying for top two posts in Gerakan

Gerakan presidential hopeful Dominic Lau has announced that the party’s Penang chairperson Oh Tong Keong will be running as his deputy president in the upcoming party polls

Lau, who is currently Gerakan vice-president, made the announcement during a press conference at the party’s Kuala Lumpur headquarters today.

He added the party’s Negeri Sembilan chairperson David Choong Vee Hing will also be contesting under his team for the vice-presidency.

Although nomination day is taking place this Saturday, Lau said his team had not been finalised yet.

"I am not sure who else will contest the presidency [...] but so far there are no other candidates," said Lau after being asked whether there were other contenders for the post.  

In the 14th general election, Gerakan failed to win any seat.

Mah Siew Keong subsequently resigned in September as the party’s president.

However, Lau vowed to return Gerakan to Parliament in the next general election.

"Our objective is to make sure our party is back in Parliament. If you have no say in Parliament, if you have no say in the state legislative assembly, you are nothing.

"Firstly, we have to consolidate our party and secondly, (our aim) is to come back to Parliament.

"We will call a meeting, because the experiences of party members are very important, and we will sit down and discuss. We will list down the focus areas and the hotspots. We will later focus on them," he added.

Lau said it was important to educate party members about the spirit and the core values of the party.

"We must educate them, so they will have a sense of belonging and they will feel proud to be part of the party. We must regain the spirit we had when Gerakan was formed."

'Blue Ocean Strategy'

He also mentioned that the party will employ a theory called the “Blue Ocean Strategy” in order to advise and monitor both opposition and ruling parties.

"[...] we are also monitoring Pakatan Harapan like the others are doing but we are different. We will not only object to policies that do not benefit the people but we will also give alternative solutions to them.

"This is the ‘Blue Ocean Strategy’, to make the different become irrelevant and to make sure we become relevant in party politics. "

The “Blue Ocean Strategy” is a marketing theory from the eponymous 2005 book by two professors from French business school Insead.

According to the book’s website, it involves “creating and capturing uncontested market space, thereby making the competition irrelevant”.

Besides that, Lau said the party was ready to contest in local government elections.

"If Harapan comes out with the local government elections, as promised in their manifesto, Gerakan is ready and willing to contest." - Mkini