Gerakan Has A Grandfather Story About Why It Deserves To Lead Penang

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GERAKAN’S head Datuk Dr Dominic Lau literally had a grandfather story as to why Gerakan is the most deserving party in Perikatan Nasional (PN) to lead Penang.
He told reporters that Gerakan has been around for 58 years and that the Penang chief minister post was held by the party for 39 years, and therefore Gerakan has a strong foundation in the state.
Lau is presumably livid as its partner in PN, the Malaysian Indian Progressive Party (MIPP) through its president P. Punithan, had publicly declared the party’s intention to lead PN’s charge in Penang.
Lau had since rubbished the suggestion, saying his party is more experienced as it had previously governed the state.
Well, since he cannot fathom why Gerakan doesn’t deserve to lead Penang, let’s unpack it for him.
The first reason is obviously because to lead Penang is not Gerakan’s birthright. Sure, Lim Chong Eu and Koh Tsu Koon, both former Gerakan presidents, held the Penang chief minister’s post from 1969 to 1990, and 1990 to 2008, respectively, but just because your grandfather and your father were somebody, it doesn’t mean that you are.
For you to be entitled to be somebody by default, your father or grandfather must have left you a large inheritance. Koh, however, left Lau with nothing.
Since losing Penang in 2008, Gerakan has not even been able to make a dent in Penang’s politics until today, although around 17 years has passed.
Considering that Lau has not received any inheritance from his predecessors, he should perhaps stop dreaming of Gerakan’s glorious past and continue to regale us with old stories about how it was Gerakan who once ruled the Pearl of the Orient.
Instead, he should wake up to the fact that today, Gerakan is on the brink of extinction and is surviving merely by squatting in PN.
The second reason why Gerakan does not deserve to lead PN’s charge in Penang is because it has little to no support from the Chinese electorate who unanimously supports DAP.
The Chinese also appear to not be in the mood to hedge their bets. In other words, they do not appear like they want an MCA or Gerakan to divide their strength.
(Image: Kosmo Digital)Even if perchance the Chinese suddenly become amenable to hedge their bets, the party that they will likely choose to hedge their bet on is MCA, not Gerakan.
Considering that the Chinese have clearly, surely and undoubtedly turned their backs on Gerakan, Gerakan has absolutely nothing to offer PN, in return for seeking the mandate to rule Penang.
Thirdly, if PN has a glimmer of a hope to defeat DAP and rule Penang, it is going to have to do it by banking on the support of the Malays and Indians. Mathematically, Penang is 42.57% Chinese, 41.40% Malay, 9.92% Indian and 6.12% other races.
Theoretically, this means that if the Malays and Indians in Penang rally under PN’s banner, 50.32 % of Penang’s population, or slightly more than half, might be on PN’s side.
If PN wants to rule Penang, its chances of ruling Penang will come on the back of this 50.32% of Malay and Indian support, not the remaining 42.57% of Chinese.
To tap into the 50.32% of support of the Malays and Indians, PN should obviously promise the Penang CM post to a Malay or Indian and not to Lau who cannot even attain a single digit percentage of Chinese support for PN, much less any Indian or Malay support.
Fourthly, Dominic lacks the sort of charisma of gravitas that will attract even a fellow Chinese, much less an Indian or a Malay.
In fact, someone like Lau can only expect to be a leader if their predecessors left them a leadership position as an inheritance. Using their inheritance as a leverage, there is a chance that someone like him will be able to gain the support of others.
Without such inheritance however, Gerakan needs to have a leader with character, charisma and gravitas to regain what they have lost, and that leader is not Lau.
A leader like Lau can probably only get something for Gerakan if he conditions Gerakan to be subservient to Bersatu or PAS, and Bersatu and Pas chooses to reward them for their service.
Putting all of these things together, it should thus be clear without doubt that the Gerakan is simply not deserving or capable of leading PN’s charge in Penang, simply because it has next to no chance of winning.
Ultimately, to answer Lau’s question about why Gerakan is unsuitable to lead Penang, I think he needs to look no further than himself.
People can only be expected to see him as a Penang CM if he had inherited the position from Koh Tsu Koon, but nobody can be expected to see him as a potential Penang CM without anybody handing the position to him.
Nehru Sathiamoorthy is a roving tutor who loves politics, philosophy and psychology.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT. 
- Focus Malaysia.

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