Gerakan a party for all Malaysians — President

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KUALA LUMPUR: Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) is not a party for the Chinese community in Malaysia but for all Malaysians, said its president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

“We have been practising the 1Malaysia concept from the very beginning, that is why we named our party ‘Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia’.

“Although most of our members are from the Chinese community, around 80 per cent, 15 per cent of our members are Indians and the rest Malays and from various ethnic groups in Sabah and Sarawak,” he said when asked by reporters about claims that the party only pursued the interests of the Chinese community.

He said the claims spread in social networking websites was a tactic by the opposition to run down Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties particularly Gerakan.

On Gerakan’s progress in Penang, he said the people in the state, which the Gerkan-led government lost to the opposition in the last general action, were responding positively to the party’s efforts to wrest back the state for the BN.

Koh was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Gerakan 2012 national convention here yesterday.

Meanwhile, when launching the party’s women’s wing delegates conference, Gerakan deputy president Datuk Chang Ko Youn said the Pakatan opposition was not a viable alternative for the country.

He described Pakatan as a pact that was only out to take advantage and did not hold collective values or policies.

He said Malaysia would face disaster if the pact was allowed to lead the country based on their weak performance in four states they held namely Selangor, Kedah, Penang and Kelantan.

The Women’s wing head Datuk Tan Lian Hoe in her speech urged the top leadership of Gerakan to field more women candidates in the upcoming general election.

Tan, who is also Deputy Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Comsumerism Minister, said this was because women voters would be outnumbering men in the next GE and that they would be determining factor as to who would be forming the next government. — Bernama

Meanwhile, when opening the party’s youth wing delegates conference, Gerakan vice president Datuk Mah Siew Keong said Gerakan was seeking an additional parliamentary and four state seats in the upcoming GE.

He said the additional seats were to cater for independent lawmakers who joined the party in the last four years. — Bernama

Also present were Gerakan secretary-general Teng Chang Yeow and Youth chief Datuk Lim Si Pin. — Bernama