Gerakan ready to win cyberwar
IPOH: Gerakan leaders and coordinators have been urged to use social media to win the “cyberwar” as part of their preparations for the 14th General Election (GE14).
Its president, Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong, said the party must utilise social media to counter misleading information.
“We have to send the right message to the people and voters. We lost out in terms of social media in the previous general elections.
“Following that, the party had appointed coordinators to carry out the work on the ground,” he said at the opening of Perak Gerakan delegates’ conference here yesterday.
Mah, who is plantation industries and commodities minister, said for the next general election, the party would contest the same number of seats as in the previous election.
In the 13th General Election, the Barisan Nasional component party contested 12 parliamentary and 33 state seats.
Mah said the party was discussing with other component parties on swapping four or five seats.
“The party is strong in certain constituencies and weaker in others. Swapping seats will give BN the best results.”
He said the final decision would be made by the BN Supreme Council.
In the 2013 General Election, Gerakan won a sole parliamentary seat and three state seats. It won an additional parliamentary seat in Teluk Intan in a by-election in 2014, through Mah.
Mah expressed confidence that BN would win additional state seats in Perak in GE14.
BN holds 31 seats, with the rest of the seats in the 59-strong state assembly being held by opposition parties.
He said the leadership of Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir, who had implemented programmes for the people, would boost support for the coalition.