Under my umbrella

Penang Gerakan vice-chairman Lee Boon Ten comes up with a unique way to catch hawkers’ attention.

GEORGE TOWN: Instead of just the Barisan Nasional “dacing” emblem, a Gerakan politician has picked a logo that appeals to the local Hokkien population in the Datuk Keramat constituency.

The picture of a mandarin orange, or kam in Hokkien, was printed on 40 umbrellas which were given out to hawkers at the Taman Free School market yesterday.

Penang Gerakan vice-chairman Lee Boon Ten said the logo was chosen as Datuk Keramat is commonly known as gan zhai yuan (mandarin orchard) among the Chinese community.

He said an old story has it that Chinese revolutionary Dr Sun Yat Sen was once invited for a secret meeting at a house in Datuk Keramat which was planted with mandarin fruit trees.

Dr Sun, he added, had visited the Chinese in Penang to plan his revolutionary activities against the Qing dynasty.

“To the Chinese, kam signifies abundance, good fortune and wealth. My team has designed the ‘mandarin orange’ logo which symbolises the ‘revolution’ I intend to bring to Datuk Keramat in the general election.

“I hope this place will flourish with prosperity for generations to come,” he said after giving away the umbrellas.

Lee, who is also Datuk Keramat Gerakan coordinator, said he had approached the stall owners after noticing that many of their umbrellas were old and worn out.

“I was surprised by the response. Many stall owners have come forward to ask for the umbrellas. “We plan to give out another 13 umbrellas to stall owners in Kuantan Road soon,” he said.