Gerakan aims to wrest Penang from opposition in GE15
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) wants to make a comeback in the political arena by wresting Penang from the opposition in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Gerakan president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau said Penang will be their focus state in the GE15 against the back of ensuring a Perikatan Nasional (PN) victory in the polls.
Lau said Penang remained close to the party’s heart as it was where it was founded and deeply rooted, citing notable past leaders who rose to be the state’s chief ministers such as Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu and Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.
“Gerakan started in Penang, we reached our peak there but it was also where the party fell. We will make a comeback in Penang, our homeground. That is important for the party and we are focused on the state and for PN to win.
“However, we do not want to talk about seats or candidates. We have a wishlist but we will leave it to the PN presidential council to decide. Our preparations to face GE15 will start and we must be ready to defend people’s rights and care for their wellbeing.
“Our priority now is to ensure PN wins GE15. This is in line with Ger- akan’s ideology which is to en- sure political stability in the country,” Lau said.
He said this at the party’s 53rd anniversary celebrations at Menara PGRM in Cheras, yesterday.
Should seat negotiations for GE15 become a challenge, Lau said the party would rather not fight for it and would work on a win-win situation with other PN component parties by fielding only one candidate.
“Anyone who is against PN is the enemy of Gerakan. So we will work as a team to field other candidates in GE15. Our goal is to win it,” he added.
In GE14, Gerakan contested in 22 parliamentary and 31 state constituencies but failed to win any. Lau said the party’s anniversary this year was significant as it celebrated the occasion as a PN component party member.
It was marked with the hoisting of Gerakan and PN flags at Menara PGRM 1 and 2 as well as its state branches nationwide.
Gerakan, Lau said, made the decision to join PN as it was confident of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s leadership and the various government assistance given to the rakyat amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lau said the ability of Gerakan to celebrate its anniversary showed that the party, which was founded in 1968, was still relevant to this day.
With over 300,000 members and a presence in 12 states nationwide, Lau attributed Gerakan’s achievements to contributions of the party’s founding members and former party presidents Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik, Dr Koh and Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong.
“Our success did not fall easily from the sky. We must learn from our mistakes and weaknesses from all these years so that we will remain relevant for another 53 years or even 100 years not just in Malaysia but also globally,” said Lau.
To boost the party’s integrity and transparency, it was working towards obtaining the ISO 37001 certification, which is an international anti-bribery management system standard, said Lau.