Penang Umno tells Gerakan to surrender seats to MCA, MIC

By G. Manimaran

September 14, 2010

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 14 — Penang Umno has urged Gerakan to surrender all its contested seats in the state to the MCA and MIC if it has given up hope of wresting Penang from Pakatan Rakyat in the next general election.

Penang Umno deputy chairman Datuk Zainal Abidin Osman told The Malaysian Insider today that Gerakan should immediately notify the Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance if it felt it was no longer capable of facing the election.

Zainal Abidin, who is also the state’s BN deputy chairman, stressed that no political leaders within the BN pact should give up so easily in their struggles.

“Gerakan leaders should not give up on their efforts to recapture Penang, we have to work hard… and if they are unable to, they should inform quickly so that they (MCA and MIC) can take over their roles (in contesting Gerakan’s seats).

“Gerakan should make way for MCA and MIC to contest in the seats that they (Gerakan) contested two years ago if they are no longer confident,” he said when contacted.

At the same time, Zainal Abidin said efforts to regain the support of Penang folk should be improved to help the BN win in the next general election.

“For Umno, we will work hard to win in the election… we won 11 state seats in 2008 and we are confident that we can win two more in the coming election,” he claimed.

He also expressed confidence that Umno would win more parliamentary seats. BN contested five parliamentary seats in Penang in Election 2008 but only won two.

Teng had admitted in an interview that the DAP would continue to rule Penang for one more term. — File pic

Zainal Abidin was responding to Penang Gerakan chairman Datuk Dr Teng Hock Nan’s admission last week that the DAP would continue its rule in Penang for one more term by winning in the coming 13th general election.

In his prediction, Teng said that BN would only have a chance of winning back Penang, which had been ruled by Gerakan since 1969, in the subsequent general election.

In March 2008, Umno contested 15 state seats in the 40-seat Penang assembly and won in 11 constituencies. Gerakan contested 12 seats but failed to capture even one. The remaining seats were contested by the MCA and MIC.

Of the three Pakatan Rakyat parties, DAP took the lead and won all the 19 seats it contested while PKR won nine and PAS won one.

According to Teng, Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng would not be able to lead the state after the 14th general election due to his administrative methods.

“With his style of running the government, he will be appointed the chief minister in the next general election, but … not the following general election,” Teng had told The Malaysian Insider.

PR’s mandate will only end in 2013 but already there is speculation that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak would call for early polls at the parliamentary level while state-level elections are to be held at a different date.

Following its dismal performance in the 12th general election, political pundits have described Gerakan as becoming increasingly irrelevant. It now only holds two parliamentary seats.

Zainal Abidin, however, stressed that Teng’s statement and concession to the DAP was not the official stand of the BN or Umno as no prior discussions had been held on the issue.

The Penang BN is currently chaired by Gerakan president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon who was also the state’s chief minister before Lim. Koh failed in his bid to win a parliamentary seat in the last election.

“Umno was not invited for any discussion to take such a stand… so we regard Teng’s stand as one that is neither the position of BN nor Umno,” said Zainal Abidin.

He added that the foundation of the party’s struggles was to give the best service to the people and to improve its efforts in trying to emerge victorious in the coming election.

He also claimed that there was still time for BN to prepare its strategy.

“In politics, one week is considered a long period… anything can happen, seeing as we do not even know when the elections will be held, maybe in a month, maybe in a year.

“So we (political parties) should use the time available now to improve our efforts in giving the best service to the people,” he said.

While admitting that the BN had committed mistakes in the past, he said the ruling alliance at federal level had improved since then and the people now know that “we have changed”.

“We (BN) want to give the best service to the people. So we should strengthen our party, our party machinery to maintain the level of support from the people, unity and solidarity among party members,” he said.

He said that losing an election was merely a temporary situation but the act of giving up hope would make it a permanent reality.