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KL Gerakan in indefinite 'lock-down' |
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Posted by admin
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Monday, 01 September 2008 10:03 |
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(NST) - Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur Gerakan has been placed in an indefinite state of "lock-down".
Unlike the states, there will be no elections for Kuala Lumpur Gerakan on Sunday.
The existing organisation and leadership have been "frozen" under orders from the party's central working committee.
Acting party president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who leads the CWC, has been made caretaker chairman of Kuala Lumpur Gerakan, replacing Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong who was suspended when he accepted an offer from the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government to head a task force on land matters.
The decision was made known to the Kuala Lumpur Gerakan leadership via a letter signed by secretary-general Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye in July, about two months after Tan's suspension.
Sources said the letter cited "restructuring and reorganisation" as the reason for the lock-down.
While the main Kuala Lumpur Gerakan committee has been barred from holding elections, its Youth and Wanita wings can proceed with theirs but only on Sept 28.
It was also revealed that the "restructuring and reorganisation" in question was in reality the CWC's plan to "parachute" in national leaders who lost in the last general election. The goal: make Kuala Lumpur the Gerakan's new permanent power base to mount a political comeback.
"Our party put all our eggs in one basket. The basket that was Penang fell, so now the leaders are looking at the Federal Territory as the new basket," said an insider.
Despite Gerakan losing the three parliamentary seats it last held in the Federal Territory (Kepong, Batu and Segambut) and the Barisan Nasional all but one of 11 Kuala Lumpur seats in the last elections, the CWC's reasoning is that because no one can claim ownership over Kuala Lumpur, the party will never have to face the embarrassment of being run out of its own state, like what happened after March 8.
However, such reasoning also seems to suggest that the CWC is not confident in regaining Penang -- Gerakan's traditional stronghold -- from the DAP.
Incidentally, its headquarters, Menara Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, is in Cheras.
The move to make national leaders the de facto committee for Kuala Lumpur Gerakan is expected to be announced at the party's national delegates conference.
While resistance is expected from the current Kuala Lumpur Gerakan leadership, the move, it is learned, will be sold to the national delegates as a necessary decision for the greater good and survival of the party.
However, some believe there is another motive for the lock-down.
"They (CWC) know that the majority of the Kuala Lumpur Gerakan leaders are Dr Tan's (Kee Kwong) loyalists. They sympathise with his decision to take up Pakatan Rakyat's offer and many of them even object to his suspension," the source said.
"Many of the leaders are also 'jealous' that Pakatan seems to be achieving many of Gerakan's goals in a short time. They are beginning to see that Gerakan may be better off with the opposition than BN. As a result, the CWC is worried of this and has decided to 'cold storage' them," said a CWC member.
A Kuala Lumpur Gerakan leader agreed with this assessment.
"We believe in Gerakan, its ideology and its history. Our hope is that the top leadership will consider moving out of BN. We hope to convince them at the national delegates conference in October.
"If not, more of us might join Dr Tan, Datuk Dr Toh Kin Woon and Datuk Lee Kah Choon in quitting the party."
Lee, formerly deputy secretary-general, was forced to resign from all party posts in April after taking up DAP's offer of a post with the Penang Development Corporation and as director of investPenang.
Dr Toh, a former CWC member, resigned on Aug 18 after his endorsement of opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as Permatang Pauh's member of parliament drew flak from the party leadership.
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