Gerakan Should Accept Facts And Leave Umno's Dominance
Then an Umno supreme council member Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamaed shot back at the Gerakan leader by saying that the party has to prove it can draw support before demanding a bigger role in the government's policy making.
Apart from that Nur Jazlan also claimed that it was Gerakan's own factional fighting that caused the support for the party eroded and not due to Umno's dominance, adding that Gerakan was supposed to be a multiracial party but ended up as a Chinese-based instead and that too has contributed to Gerakan's failure in the two subsequent general elections.
First, Gerakan should accept the facts that its party ideology of non-racial approach cannot work in the coalition like BN which is dominated by race-based political parties such as Umno, MCA, and MIC who currently sits on the top, while multiracial parties like Gerakan or PPP are very often sidelined. So, it means the non-racial approach expounded by Gerakan has in fact failed as it does not even exist in the BN coalition's spirit of partnership and power-sharing.
Second, Gerakan should also realize how its former party president Dr Koh Tsu Koon was treated when he was Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of National Unity and as Chairman of the Cabinet's Interfaith Panel. Was Dr Koh accorded due respect and status in his role of ensuring national unity and interfaith a success in our nation?
The fact that is Dr Koh failed totally because he was never given the respect that he was supposed to get. In the end, the Cabinet's Interfaith Panel just died off when the acting chairman (a civil servant) was later transferred to another department and later on passed away due to natural illness.
Third, Umno now has instead blamed Gerakan for its own imbalance of membership in terms of racial composition for its failure as well as its factional infighting as the main contribution to its failure in the last two general elections. Umno said Gerakan has became a Chinese-based party instead of a multiracial one.
So, Gerakan should accept the facts that its non-racial approach cannot work in a coalition like BN which is still under the direction of a race-based party like Umno, who is a dominant party in the said coalition. Umno as a dominant one-race party will always set its sight in all policy making matters, disregarding views and opinions of its medium and smaller partners within the coalition.
Like what Nur Jazlan had said, it was the other BN component parties like MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP who failed to change because older same old faces are retained in their party leadership respectively. Looks like Umno has never admit its mistakes but will always blame the other BN component parties should any faults are being identified. Umno is always in the right while MCA, MIC, Gerakan and PPP are always on the wrong side which caused BN's dismal performance in the 12th and 13th general elections.
Gerakan is unable to create the possible in the most impossible situation right now. We are not asking Gerakan to give up its struggle within the BN coalition, but given to the fact that the party has no active role anymore in the coalition, Gerakan should bravely look into other avenues in order to advance its political struggle and beliefs (non-racial approach and Bangsa Malaysia concept) and stop its over-dependence on government positions from top right down to the lower levels.
If Gerakan does not have any elected seats or otherwise, then they are given the senatorship, advisory positions, municipal councillorship, JKKK, JKKKP or whatsoever, but can this party function effectively to expound its ideology or its leaders are merely holding those positions just for the sake of getting it for their own benefit.
Then, Gerakan, its leaders and delegates must think carefully of what actually they are looking forward for this party to recharge and to bounce back. To do this, they must be brave enough to make some drastic changes, be ready to sacrifice some luxuries of government positions that they had enjoyed in the past and moving towards becoming a party without a coalition to depend on.
Remember, Gerakan was once on its own and it captured Penang from the MCA-led Alliance in the 1969 general elections. It rose to glory on its own feet. The party only declines slowly after it joined the Alliance (which is later turned into BN).
Gerakan, think about it, not for your leaders' comfort but for the party as a whole. Do away with self-interest and all those selfishness and bring back the party to its glorious days, if this is what you are really looking forward into.
