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Giam Say Khoon KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon yesterday blamed the “arrogance of power” of certain Umno leaders for the party’s defeat in the general election.
After chairing a four-hour central delegates briefing on the elections yesterday, Koh said the party took the election results as an indicator of people being dissatisfied with what they perceived as the“arrogance of power” of the Barisan Nasional (BN). “Certain Umno leaders’ deed, words and actions, in the past two years, have resulted in a feeling of resentment,” he said. “However, we are very critical that we may have not done enough and did not do enough.Perhaps that power had got into our head after leading Penang for 39 years." Koh said Gerakan would like to play a role of reformer in the BN but has to reform itself first. The party will also play the role of a constructive opposition in Penang, Kedah, Perak and Selangor, where it has had the administration experience in the past. Asked whether Gerakan will be able to survive the crisis, Koh said the party’s future is in the members’ hands. If we start to do more things that are correct and move on to voice out the people’s concern and to work out viable solutions to many problems that the people face ...we have the confidence to continue to be relevant,” he said. Despite the feeling of sadness for losing so many seats, he was glad to see the delegates were highly spirited and ready to continue the fight along the party’s principles, which are non-racial based. Koh said that during the briefing, which was also attended by party adviser Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, the delegates stressed that the renewal process should start as soon as possible. “There were also constructive criticisms which demand the party’s top leadership to be more vocal in speaking up for the people,” he said. “We admitted that we were too busy with government work in the past and we might have been separated from the people. ”Koh said the delegates also hoped that BN, specially Umno, will introduce renewal that is multi-racial in nature. He said the party will not be celebrating its 40th anniversary but will do a lot of soul searching and consolidation work.“We resolved to go back to basics, people, politics and conscience and to move forward into the future,” he said. Koh said the next 10 years will be the most challenging for the party and hoped that by its 50th anniversary, the party will regain its political position. He said he will now be working full time for the party, while some of the leaders will also devote their time for the party’s rebuilding effort. His immediate plan is to make sure that all members recovered from the shock of electoral defeat and are remotivated to move the party forward. Koh said the delegates had also called for early party elections. The elections had been postponed to next year but the party will be re-looking its decision. “The key party leaders and I will be going for nationwide dialogue with the grassroots next week. We will decide on the election date after the tour,” he said. Asked whether the delegates had proposed that the party withdraw from BN, Koh said there was only one delegate who requested to have a meeting to discuss the matter. I said we can discuss it in the normal delegates conference or dialogue session. We are a democratic and open party and are open to all ideas,” he said. On the proposal for an anti-hopping law by Minister in the Prime Minister Department Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Koh said that in principle, he agreed that if a candidate is elected because he contested under a party flag and decides to jump ship, it is unfair to the voters who voted him. - THE SUN
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