Sunday, May 25, 2008

Gerakan Retools Itself To Get Back In Mainstream Politics

Gerakan will be positioning itself as the party of choice for all Malaysians under a rebranding effort that it hopes would bring the party back to mainstream politics.

At the party's 40th anniversary on Sunday, Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon said the party's mission was to build a united and democratic nation.

"In order to achieve this, we must consolidate, evaluate, motivate and rejuvenate the party."

Dr Koh said three thrusts would be undertaken, one of which was to voice Gerakan's ideology and policy position, and to advocate a Malaysian solution for major issues.

"The other two is to rebuild, rebrand and re-empower the party at all levels to effectively serve and represent all Malaysians and by doing so, to win the people's hearts and minds while regaining their mandate."

Dr Koh said the party was at its most challenging crossroads following the dismal results of the March 8 general election.

"Most of us are dejected or demoralised but we must keep telling ourselves that we are down but definitely not out," he said.

Dr Koh said after meeting with grassroots members over the past two months, the picture was clear that the members wanted Gerakan to continue.

"A few may have gone astray. We can understand that. But we will keep fighting because we believe we are still relevant to the people."

He added that Gerakan had to quickly understand the new political environment and that politics now had moved from being racial-based to being issues-based.

"That is exactly what we are fighting for, but somehow we ended up on the other side.

"In this case, what is good for the country is negative for the party but it confirms that this is the way forward and we definitely have a role to play."

He added that Gerakan would execute its plan via eight strategies consisting of broad plans to expand and consolidate membership while rebuilding the party in Penang.

"One of the ideas is to provide a more flexible structure by opening cyber branches so that Malaysians overseas can also participate in the party," he said. (The Star)

***** Very nice sounding phrases by Tan Sri Koh. But will it be sufficient and will it work? I still remember that prior to the last GE many Indian members had complained about the Gerakan having become a Chinese party and not a single Indian had been fielded in the polls. The Malays are nowhere to be seen in Gerakan either.

It would take more than mere words for Gerakan to convince the Malays and Indians to come on board after having lost their credibility with these communities. Can they survive as a purely Chinese party in competition with MCA? Let's not forget that substantial numbers of Chinese too have also moved to PKR and DAP. An uphill task awaits Gerakan.

Labels: ,

9 Comments:

Blogger Geronimo said...

Why can't GERAKAN get it through their thick skulls. As long as they are associated with UMNO and play a subservient role, there is no way the party is going to find it's way back into main stream politics. The BN is nothing more than a coalition of racist parties, and GERAKAN say they are multi-racial. It is like fire and water. They just don't gel.

7:13 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

They (UMNO & its lap dog component parties) that we the Rakyat are not stupid.
1/ They are still subserviant to UMNO
2/ We can't / won't forget what they have done in Penang because the "truth" is slowly coming out in th eopen
3/ UMNO is the biggest racist party around & UMNO will never allow Gerakan to do otherwise
The only way that Gerakan can "re-invent" itself is by first quitting BN.
Then the Rakyat will start taking them seriously!

7:37 PM GMT+8  
Blogger dragonfly said...

Publicly apologize to Paranjothy, then you can talk. Otherwise, just another hypocrite and kowtowing blok party.

9:30 PM GMT+8  
Blogger Monsterball said...

Pathetic humble-pie from a lap-dog party. Its not going to get anywhere,
first because Taiko UMNO is in no mood for any contrarian noises from its BN poodles,
second Koh TK simply hasn't got the stomach to stand up for what he talks about.

As soon as UMNO raps his knuckles, he will shut up and go quietly into the corner.

12:42 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Which Chinese is going to join a Chinese-based party SUPPORTING the NEP?

7:40 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is a Chinese based party that had been systematically discriminated the Indians and Malays. Keng Yaik is a preindependence born Chinese chauvinist and an ex MCA member. Under his leadership racism was at the prime. There were capable leaders e.g. Rhina Bhar and Vijay, but the chinsese chauvinist did not give them the option to run for the election.

8:42 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A bad workman blames his tool. Gerakan just need to polish the tool. Then everything okay, ada Melayu or India not important...must have tool in hand 'cos better than tool in bush.
Goodworkman.

10:59 AM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The only "tool" Gerakan possesses is the hairy lingam

3:10 PM GMT+8  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Anonymous 7:40AM....to answer your question..."the Chinese lap dogs of UMNO"!

4:24 PM GMT+8  

Post a Comment

<< Home

!-- End #sidebar -->
Malaysia Blog Sites Listing Check Web Rank World Top Blogs - Blog TopSites hits Blog Portal