Gerakan wants to win more seats in GE, eyes Taiping seat

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ALL FOR ONE AND ONE FOR ALL: Mah (fourth left) and Gerakan Youth Lim Si Pin (third left) with Umno Youth chief Khairy (fifth left) taking a photograph after opening of the Gerakan Youth conference. — Bernama photo

KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan has set its sights on regaining more seats in the upcoming 13th General Election (GE) after its dismal performance in the previous election.

The party also wants to re-contest its Taiping parliamentary seat which was contested twice by the People’s Progressive Party (PPP).

Speaking before the party’s Life Member Council (LMC) delegates here yesterday, Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon urged the party’s election machinery to defend incumbents seats at all costs, while making inroads to wrest additional seats.

While admitting it would be a ‘tough job’, Koh, who chaired the LMC conference, following the absence of its chairman, Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who was stricken with pneumonia, believed the goal could be achieved.

“Although we have almost 28,000 new members joining our party, that is not a guarantee (for success), but it is important for us to move forward beyond 2+8 (seats),” he said.

Since it was important for Gerakan to win more seats in the upcoming election for the party’s survival, Koh hoped the delegates attending the National Delegates Conference (NDC), which began its meeting yesterday, would come up with a winning formula.

“We have to work on it, so we must aim to win more than two (parliamentary seats), we have to set a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) after this NDC (on how many seats to win),” he said.

Gerakan fared poorly in the 2008 General Election, losing every seat in its home ground Penang, and winning only two parliamentary seats, Simpang Renggam (Johor) and Gerik (Perak), and four state seats.

Koh also told the conference that Gerakan would like to re-contest in Taiping.

“We, Gerakan, are a very generous one, you know, we accommodate our friend from PPP to be in Taiping, twice, but this time, we would like to take Taiping back,” he said.

Meanwhile, Gerakan vice-president Mah Siew Keong reminded the party’s members that politics was a numbers game.

Speaking before Gerakan Youth members when launching the wing’s conference today, he said members needed to realise there was not much space for them to voice their expression after they lost many seats in the 2008 GE.

“We have to come back to basic realities, (in the) last round, we won two parliamentary seats out of 12 contested, politics is a numbers game and let’s not bluff ourselves, if we got very few people left (remaining), we cannot talk too much,” he said.

Mah stressed that the 13th GE would be decisive for Gerakan’s future, whether it was still relevant to the people or otherwise.

“It is not going to be easy. What will happen to Gerakan if we are contesting 12 seats and we only win one or no seat at all …we know that the opposition wants us dead, especially in Penang. — Bernama

“So, the next general election will determine the future of our party,” he said.

Meanwhile, Barisan National (BN) Youth chairman Khairy Jamaluddin, who attended the opening of the Gerakan Youth conference, said he was impressed with the component party’s confidence to hold on to the BN united spirit, despite the current challenging situation.

He recalled the history back in 1988 when Umno was de-registered, which provided opportunities for the BN component parties to leave, but the cooperation remained with a strong family spirit.

“It was the chance for our partners in BN to leave at that time, they could have teamed up with Semangat 46, but you kept the faith with BN and Umno because all of us believe in the strength of the family.

“In this family spirit, the spirit of friendship in BN, we see the principle that we are together …we are one family and we stick together,” said Khairy. — Bernama