Open letter to Dr Teng on interview on Quang Ming on 12/11 機會留給新生代 丁福南大選不上陣
by Moving Gerakan on Saturday, November 20, 2010 at 3:59pm
Dear Dr Teng,
We would like to refer to your recent press interview reported in Guang Ming Daily and here are some direct feedbacks to you.
Contest or Not to Contest
You told the press you would promote new blood in the coming general elections. But when asked about whether you would stand for elections you were non-committal. You said that currently you did not have a seat to contest but would leave the final decision to your CWC. We are quite sure that if you have made up your mind not to contest, no matter how much persuasion or even direction from the CWC, you would still stick to your decision not to contest. However, judging from your wishy-washy reply, it is clear that you think you are still fit to be a candidate and want a seat to contest and even going for a safe seat like Pantai Jerejak.
At this point in time, what Party Gerakan needs is rejuvenation and internal party strengthening strategy. As such, contest or not to contest should not even be the question to answer. It is like a person who is recovering from an operation and is required to indulge in heavy activities. As a doctor, you would have given advice to your patient to focus his or her energy in recuperation and to ensure the internal wound heals first. Once the wound has healed, then only the patient can start to focus on heavy activities.
Based on our intelligence prior to EGM, you have pledged that whether you win or lose, you would be relinquishing your post. Now it looks like you do not live up to your words. You seem to be more concerned in tightening your grip on power by putting your men in key positions with no regards if they command support from the grassroots or if they have the capability to revamp the party.
As long as you still harbour hope of contesting, you are paying lip service to your rejuvenation plan. You will be seen not only as practising double standards but also using it as a ploy to remove your political rivals. You seem to be more interested in grabbing seats for your supporters in the general elections than party unity.
Chances of Winning
When reporters alluded that you were so unpopular that you might be rejected again by the voters if you contest again, you avoided the question by saying that you haven’t heard any members in Gerakan making that comment…
Do not be an ostrich burying your head in the sand! You seem to have very short memory. Haven’t you forgotten about the EGM passing a motion of no confidence on you? The EGM movers have repeatedly said that your public image was a liability to Gerakan because of your role you played in the last state government and the public disgrace you brought to Gerakan during the CM saga of the last GE.
In addition, we would like to remind you that it would be the people who will decide on your fate in an election and not the members of your party.
Let us repeat this again. You do not stand a chance of winning based on your current political stands and on whatever you do or say. Isn’t the recent public exchange between you and the CM Lim Guan Eng over the issue of investments for Penang enough to show how low your public standing is among the voters of Penang? It is a burden to Party Gerakan as you were in the last government that had been rejected by the people in 308. Will you now consider not contesting in the next general elections and focusing on your party’s power-transfer plan instead?
It appears to us that it is “business as usual” under your leadership. Where is your new election strategy? Do you really think that by changing the names of people holding party positions, the voters will embrace you as an alternative government for Penang? Do you know that the Penang voters have already lost hope that Gerakan can possibly play any more roles in Penang? They do not even wish to comment any more on Gerakan after the EGM. Such is Gerakan’s relevance in the eyes of the public.
Age factor
Dr Teng, if we are not mistaken, you are already 65 years old and going to be 66 or 67 by the time the next GE is being called. It is not the question of your health that is crucial but the image you represent. Being old and over-used, you actually run out of wits and ideas to resolve a new set of problems faced by the party vis-à-vis the electorate.
In addition, the trend is happening all over the world that rejuvenation of leaders is taking place. Take an example, in the US, their President is young and full of energy. Don’t you think it is time to give the younger generation the opportunities to lead the party? We believe so. We also believe that it is even more important for these young leaders to free Gerakan from UMNO hegemony and exert its independence in politics as prerequisites for Gerakan’s survival.
Party Gerakan Penang Line-up
Beside the points above, we would also like to share the sentiment of some of the Gerakan members. Your current state line-up lacks the excitement, vision and inspiration that are much awaited for. We are not sure how this can turn around the tide for Gerakan. The line-up represents more of an uninspiring lot waiting to be mauled alive by the hungry CAT.
When two leaders were named to head the same bureau, we can’t help thinking that either these leaders are not capable to lead on their own or it is another post-creating exercise to satisfy your “horse-trading” quotas needed to fulfill the promises you made while campaigning during the EGM. Either way, it is pathetic and unhealthy. Besides, haven’t you heard that there can never be 2 tigers in a hill?
It seems that you have never-ending stream of challenges as the Chairman of Penang Gerakan and perhaps, you should take a step back and reflect on whether you are the cause of this problem or this problem causes you to have more problems.
movingGerakan as ONE, towards a better future for our children
Monday, November 22, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
A peek review of Gerakan’s destiny post NDC 2010
by Moving Gerakan on Sunday, November 14, 2010 at 3:15pm
A Peek Review at Gerakan’s Destiny
With the conclusion of the 33rd National Delegates Conference (NDC), there might be hope and confidence generated that Party Gerakan is on its way for a quick rebound. However, the NDC is not without other excitements that leave the journalists and political observers speculate whether the rebound is merely a smoke screen or the Chapter 2 pf Gerakan Denial Syndrome. (Sigh! The level of the Denial Syndrome I could have just been raised to another notch)
The conference started with the ex-Advisor openly calling for the President “not to over- stay his welcome” . He hinted that the president should resign if the delegates do not want him anymore. Who is he for the ex-advisor to speak in such a tone to the president of Gerakan elected by the party? If he is not happy with the performance of the latter, he should call for an EGM to oust him, instead of using public pressure and covert arm-twisting by his hatchet men in the CWC to force him out of office. The undemocratic practice of the ex-advisor do not allay public fear that he is installing his man to be another weak president and hence paving the way for his son to take over Gerakan in the near future.
The ex-advisor seems to be giving the green light to delegates to demand for the President’s early retirement, thus starting an ugly internal war in the Party. Don’t worry delegates. Contrary to common belief, the President will not use his newly learnt Praying Mantis as he knows that he will not be able to take on the ex-advisor heads on. He is expected to continue using his Tai Chi to bargain for the continuation of his ministerial post in exchange for an early retirement, hence passing on the party to the ex-advisor on a silver platter.
In whichever case Parti Gerakan is the loser.
Is Gerakan on the way to become a “feudal party” of some “sendirian berhad”? It is unfathomable to see Tun Lim Keng Yaik sitting on stage next to the president during the NDC when he is no longer the Party Advisor.
Maybe out of "kam cheng" or some other personal reasons, Tun is asked to be on the stage. But Gerakan must be clear to differentiate between 'personalising' the Party and 'respecting the office of the Office bearers' that is the CC. Just like the Cabinet, an ex-PM or ex-Minister cannot be invited to sit in the Cabinet. And it does not mean that we no longer respect them. Therefore, the Party must avoid the perception that Tun Lim is the 'persona' of Party Gerakan. It is no good for party image and it does not auger well for the future of Gerakan that an ex-President of 27 years still wields his power-axe around even after his retirement.
In his NDC speech, the president high-spiritedly declared that Gerakan is down but is not out, and that the party is not hopeless and irrelevant as critics put it. The President presented the data of 20000 new members to prove his point. Yes, congratulations to the President! While the breakdown of the figures is not available , we presume that the majority of these members come from Sabah (via the SAPP route) and Pahang. The President should be reminded that, for now, the Parti Gerakan’s base is still very much in Penang unless he has moved them over to Sabah without notifying the delegates. Nevertheless, Sabah has a different political landscape that requires different focus before Parti Gerakan can be a major force there. (Perhaps, the President can learn a few things from Pairin.)
For us, such a revelation is nothing but a symptom of the self-denial syndrome. After the 308 debacle, we remember vividly that the party leadership also used the fact that Gerakan did not have exodus of members to prove that Gerakan was still relevant. But what is the reality? The public has given up hope on Gerakan. It is pathetic that our leaders continue to choose sedatives to numb themselves and not to face the real reasons behind Gerakan’s perpetual decline.
Well, before the denial syndrome gets into us, let us present another perspective of reality in particular for the Parti Gerakan’s Penang members while the motivations are high after the NDC for the preparation towards GE13. Here are some of the facts to consider:
a) Gerakan Seats Allocation - Most of the state seats allocated to Gerakan have a breakdown of more than 50% of the Chinese but less than 80%. The Malays voters averaging about 30% of less. With the current scenario, the best swing will be about 30% of the total Chinese votes available, 65% of the Malay votes and 70% of Indian/others. With this scenario. Verdict: only Bukit Tengah has a 50% chance and with a slight jerk, we are gone.
b) Why only estimate 30% of Chinese Votes the max - We believe historically, on average, getting 50% of the Chinese votes in a particular constituency is a mission near impossible. The Chinese communities are mostly self sufficient and only requested for the followings – good governance, education opportunities, business opportunities, fairness and corruption free which they felt or perceived that this was lacking under the leadership of Party Gerakan especially towards the final year to the run-up to 308.
The sentiments on the ground are still very strong for the PR and they have made in-roads. The electorate fears that putting Gerakan back into power will mean being subservient to UMNO again. Party Gerakan has not given these groups of voters the REASONs to believe that if they are voted back into power, they are able to govern without playing second fiddle to UMNO.
c) Some election pundits in the party have said that Gerakan could win 3 seats in the coming GE13. With UMNO winning all 14 seats and MCA’s win of 3 seats plus MIC’s 1 seat, BN can form the simple majority government in Penang. This is possible if UMNO continues to be very strong and the rest of components parties have improved their image. These pundits hope that Gerakan can still be the Chief Minister in the government even with three seats. Well, will the 3 seats be good enough to be an independent Chief Minister? Gerakan will be an out and out puppet CM at the mercy of UMNO. He is going to be “a sitting duck” CM. When that happened Penang electorate would say their adieu to Gerakan. Is Penang state Chairman so “gian” to become CM that he is willing to sell his soul and destroy Gerakan forever?
d) Depending on UMNO to deliver? Referring to (a) above, Party Gerakan definitely depends strongly on UMNO to deliver the Malay votes for all the 13 states seats contested by Gerakan. The percentage is not small but more than 65% of the Malay votes needed for Gerakan candidates to win back their seats. This gives rise to a situation where Gerakan remains subservient to UMNO. After all it is UMNO which is the biggest contributor in making the Gerakan candidate a YB !!!
e) In the last GE 12, did Gerakan, MCA and MIC fail to deliver the votes to UMNO ? The answer is quite a certain YES. There are 2 seats (Batu Maung (N37) and Sungai Bakap) (N20)) which Malay voters are about 50% whereas the rest made up about 40%. The failure to deliver the bulk of this 40%, had caused UMNO lose the seats.
f) Will Party Gerakan be able to shed their image of subservience in time for GE13 ? The answer is a definite NO. Our earlier arguments have shown very clearly that Penang Gerakan’s election strategy is one of “UMNO Votes dependency” and therefore Gerakan will continually be beholden to UMNO. To add insults to injury, Penang Gerakan is too entrenched with the rule by “horse trading”. Only candidates behave at the behest of the top leadership will be “rewarded”. Therefore this culture of subservience will prevail.
g) Same old method or behavior never change Time and again we have advocated that Gerakan should not use the old methods to solve new problems. We can no longer run the party with “business-as-usual” mindset, as if 308 never happened. The electorate wants us to be independent and move away from UMNO, yet we choose to be close to UMNO to beg for their votes. It is this politics without backbones that people hate and reject. Why do we continue to opt for a strategy that brings only temporary gain, if any? This, we believe have very much to do with the mentality of our leadership.
We believe the above discussion might be disheartening to the delegates after they have listened to motivational speeches at the NDC, like the “Middle Path”, moving from Tai Chi to Praying Mantis, “down but not out”. They have also heard the delegates from the floor who stood their grounds against UMNO providing some glimmer of hope to Gerakan. But then in reality, their leaders depended on UMNO to make them into YB. Will they listen to all these delegates ?
Reality can be cruel and it hurts. The reset button has just been pushed and you are back to where you were right after the 308. Business is as usual. We hope actions will be carried out to match the eloquence of the presidential address.
gG - Gerakanlah Gerakan
A Peek Review at Gerakan’s Destiny
With the conclusion of the 33rd National Delegates Conference (NDC), there might be hope and confidence generated that Party Gerakan is on its way for a quick rebound. However, the NDC is not without other excitements that leave the journalists and political observers speculate whether the rebound is merely a smoke screen or the Chapter 2 pf Gerakan Denial Syndrome. (Sigh! The level of the Denial Syndrome I could have just been raised to another notch)
The conference started with the ex-Advisor openly calling for the President “not to over- stay his welcome” . He hinted that the president should resign if the delegates do not want him anymore. Who is he for the ex-advisor to speak in such a tone to the president of Gerakan elected by the party? If he is not happy with the performance of the latter, he should call for an EGM to oust him, instead of using public pressure and covert arm-twisting by his hatchet men in the CWC to force him out of office. The undemocratic practice of the ex-advisor do not allay public fear that he is installing his man to be another weak president and hence paving the way for his son to take over Gerakan in the near future.
The ex-advisor seems to be giving the green light to delegates to demand for the President’s early retirement, thus starting an ugly internal war in the Party. Don’t worry delegates. Contrary to common belief, the President will not use his newly learnt Praying Mantis as he knows that he will not be able to take on the ex-advisor heads on. He is expected to continue using his Tai Chi to bargain for the continuation of his ministerial post in exchange for an early retirement, hence passing on the party to the ex-advisor on a silver platter.
In whichever case Parti Gerakan is the loser.
Is Gerakan on the way to become a “feudal party” of some “sendirian berhad”? It is unfathomable to see Tun Lim Keng Yaik sitting on stage next to the president during the NDC when he is no longer the Party Advisor.
Maybe out of "kam cheng" or some other personal reasons, Tun is asked to be on the stage. But Gerakan must be clear to differentiate between 'personalising' the Party and 'respecting the office of the Office bearers' that is the CC. Just like the Cabinet, an ex-PM or ex-Minister cannot be invited to sit in the Cabinet. And it does not mean that we no longer respect them. Therefore, the Party must avoid the perception that Tun Lim is the 'persona' of Party Gerakan. It is no good for party image and it does not auger well for the future of Gerakan that an ex-President of 27 years still wields his power-axe around even after his retirement.
In his NDC speech, the president high-spiritedly declared that Gerakan is down but is not out, and that the party is not hopeless and irrelevant as critics put it. The President presented the data of 20000 new members to prove his point. Yes, congratulations to the President! While the breakdown of the figures is not available , we presume that the majority of these members come from Sabah (via the SAPP route) and Pahang. The President should be reminded that, for now, the Parti Gerakan’s base is still very much in Penang unless he has moved them over to Sabah without notifying the delegates. Nevertheless, Sabah has a different political landscape that requires different focus before Parti Gerakan can be a major force there. (Perhaps, the President can learn a few things from Pairin.)
For us, such a revelation is nothing but a symptom of the self-denial syndrome. After the 308 debacle, we remember vividly that the party leadership also used the fact that Gerakan did not have exodus of members to prove that Gerakan was still relevant. But what is the reality? The public has given up hope on Gerakan. It is pathetic that our leaders continue to choose sedatives to numb themselves and not to face the real reasons behind Gerakan’s perpetual decline.
Well, before the denial syndrome gets into us, let us present another perspective of reality in particular for the Parti Gerakan’s Penang members while the motivations are high after the NDC for the preparation towards GE13. Here are some of the facts to consider:
a) Gerakan Seats Allocation - Most of the state seats allocated to Gerakan have a breakdown of more than 50% of the Chinese but less than 80%. The Malays voters averaging about 30% of less. With the current scenario, the best swing will be about 30% of the total Chinese votes available, 65% of the Malay votes and 70% of Indian/others. With this scenario. Verdict: only Bukit Tengah has a 50% chance and with a slight jerk, we are gone.
b) Why only estimate 30% of Chinese Votes the max - We believe historically, on average, getting 50% of the Chinese votes in a particular constituency is a mission near impossible. The Chinese communities are mostly self sufficient and only requested for the followings – good governance, education opportunities, business opportunities, fairness and corruption free which they felt or perceived that this was lacking under the leadership of Party Gerakan especially towards the final year to the run-up to 308.
The sentiments on the ground are still very strong for the PR and they have made in-roads. The electorate fears that putting Gerakan back into power will mean being subservient to UMNO again. Party Gerakan has not given these groups of voters the REASONs to believe that if they are voted back into power, they are able to govern without playing second fiddle to UMNO.
c) Some election pundits in the party have said that Gerakan could win 3 seats in the coming GE13. With UMNO winning all 14 seats and MCA’s win of 3 seats plus MIC’s 1 seat, BN can form the simple majority government in Penang. This is possible if UMNO continues to be very strong and the rest of components parties have improved their image. These pundits hope that Gerakan can still be the Chief Minister in the government even with three seats. Well, will the 3 seats be good enough to be an independent Chief Minister? Gerakan will be an out and out puppet CM at the mercy of UMNO. He is going to be “a sitting duck” CM. When that happened Penang electorate would say their adieu to Gerakan. Is Penang state Chairman so “gian” to become CM that he is willing to sell his soul and destroy Gerakan forever?
d) Depending on UMNO to deliver? Referring to (a) above, Party Gerakan definitely depends strongly on UMNO to deliver the Malay votes for all the 13 states seats contested by Gerakan. The percentage is not small but more than 65% of the Malay votes needed for Gerakan candidates to win back their seats. This gives rise to a situation where Gerakan remains subservient to UMNO. After all it is UMNO which is the biggest contributor in making the Gerakan candidate a YB !!!
e) In the last GE 12, did Gerakan, MCA and MIC fail to deliver the votes to UMNO ? The answer is quite a certain YES. There are 2 seats (Batu Maung (N37) and Sungai Bakap) (N20)) which Malay voters are about 50% whereas the rest made up about 40%. The failure to deliver the bulk of this 40%, had caused UMNO lose the seats.
f) Will Party Gerakan be able to shed their image of subservience in time for GE13 ? The answer is a definite NO. Our earlier arguments have shown very clearly that Penang Gerakan’s election strategy is one of “UMNO Votes dependency” and therefore Gerakan will continually be beholden to UMNO. To add insults to injury, Penang Gerakan is too entrenched with the rule by “horse trading”. Only candidates behave at the behest of the top leadership will be “rewarded”. Therefore this culture of subservience will prevail.
g) Same old method or behavior never change Time and again we have advocated that Gerakan should not use the old methods to solve new problems. We can no longer run the party with “business-as-usual” mindset, as if 308 never happened. The electorate wants us to be independent and move away from UMNO, yet we choose to be close to UMNO to beg for their votes. It is this politics without backbones that people hate and reject. Why do we continue to opt for a strategy that brings only temporary gain, if any? This, we believe have very much to do with the mentality of our leadership.
We believe the above discussion might be disheartening to the delegates after they have listened to motivational speeches at the NDC, like the “Middle Path”, moving from Tai Chi to Praying Mantis, “down but not out”. They have also heard the delegates from the floor who stood their grounds against UMNO providing some glimmer of hope to Gerakan. But then in reality, their leaders depended on UMNO to make them into YB. Will they listen to all these delegates ?
Reality can be cruel and it hurts. The reset button has just been pushed and you are back to where you were right after the 308. Business is as usual. We hope actions will be carried out to match the eloquence of the presidential address.
gG - Gerakanlah Gerakan
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)