21. Gerakan Has Conscience
By Shannon Teoh, Malaysian Insider
Acting Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon says the party will review its role in the Barisan Nasional (BN). And if the review finds Gerakan no longer has a "meaningful" role in BN, then it would pull out of the coalition.
Speaking at the party's Selangor Delegates Conference here today, he did not, however, announce a timeframe for which the review would be completed.
His comments come even as BN has scheduled a supreme council meeting on Tuesday to thrash out the issue of component parties threatening to pull out of the ruling coalition amid racial disputes.
The meeting comes as pressure mounts from within the ranks of MCA and Gerakan for reform in Umno, the party blamed by them for the loss of non-Malay support during the March general elections.
Speaking to The Malaysian Insider after opening the Selangor conference, Dr Koh confirmed that the Supreme Council meeting would take place on Tuesday.
He had told delegates earlier that "we will discuss, consult and finally come to a decision soon. I don't know when because we need to watch political developments", confirming in a press conference later than he was referring to the issue of their membership in BN.
"We will not blindly be yes-men. We will stay as long as we have a meaningful role," he said.
When quizzed as to what would be a meaningful role, he said that there should be communication, mutual respect, shared ideas and consultation on programmes and policies.
But he refused to offer a timeframe, stating that it had to be reasonable, not "immediately nor five years from now."
He said that there had been progress as "there have been more meetings in the past six months than in the previous three years", referring to BN Supreme Council and management committee meetings.
But he stressed that the coalition's leadership needed to meet more often than that. He admitted however, that he was currently "not too happy but not unhappy enough to leave BN."
He insisted in his speech that as "Gerakanist", party members had to be rational and not allow "Ahmad Ismail to dictate whether we stay in BN or not. Don't give him that face, otherwise any branch or division leader can insult us and we want to leave".
He was referring to reports that Bukit Bendera Umno chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail made racist remarks during the Permatang Pauh by-election campaign, by stating that Malaysian Chinese were squatting in the country.
"I am holding back my own anger because a coalition with such a long history of governance should not be victims of such remarks."
He reiterated his calls for a code of conduct to be established in the coalition to deal with such cases in the future.
"In this case, police reports have been made, so the solution is to let the investigation carry on because one party will deny while the other says it has proof.
"But the long-term solution is to have a disciplinary committee for all BN members and not just leave it to component parties to handle internally."
