FT Gerakan Chief Dr Tan Kee Kwong Must Leave Party, Says Najib

Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Thursday Federal Territory Gerakan chairman Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong cannot keep his position in the Barisan Nasional (BN) component party after joining the opposition government.

Morally, such a move was necessary, the Deputy Prime Minister told reporters after attending a closed-door meeting with the National Students Consultative Council at a hotel, near here.

The BN was concerned over the development where two Gerakan leaders had joined the opposition government and hoped that other Gerakan members would remain in the party and have faith in the future of BN, he said.

Dr Tan was reported to have been accepted by the Selangor government to head a task force to improve the administration and policies concerning the problems of land ownership.

Earlier, former Gerakan deputy secretary-general Datuk Lee Kah Choon had accepted the post of director of the Penang Development Corporation and InvestPenang from the Pakatan Rakyat government in Penang.

When asked to comment on the statement by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim asking the Barisan Nasional to take action against its Members of Parliament Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir (Jerlun) and Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (Pasir Salak) for their criticisms which humiliated the government or Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib said the matter would be looked into.

According to Zaid, the action by the two MPs questioning his appointment as a minister was construed as a humiliation to him, the government and Prime Minister.

Asked when he would meet former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed, Najib responded: "Anytime, anytime."

Najib had recently said that he would meet Dr Mahathir after the latter had declared that he was quitting Umno. (Bernama)