Gerakan capitalising on Selangor MB saga to woo Penang voters

Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong today said the current crisis among Pakatan Rakyat parties in Selangor will help to make Penang voters aware of the superficial relations within the coalition and vote in more Gerakan members in Penang in the next general election.

He said PAS’s rift with DAP and PKR over the issue of who should assume the menteri besar’s post had exposed their fragile ties although DAP had campaigned for the Islamist party in the last two general elections.

He said PAS has become so strong, partly because of DAP’s cooperation, that it has become a “kingmaker” in Selangor by going against its allies’ choice of PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail as the new MB.

“I hope this Selangor issue has exposed the true face of PAS,” he said when officiating the Penang Gerakan delegates' conference at the party’s headquarters in George Town.

Also present were state Gerakan chairman Teng Chang Yeow, who is also Penang Barisan Nasional (BN) chief and former Gerakan president, Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

Mah, who is a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, added that that PAS’s policies, such as banning men from watching women’s netball in Kelantan which it controls, have shown the party’s extremist leanings.

“To me it’s a big thing because it just shows what PAS will do (if it assumes federal power).”

At a press conference later, Mah said he was confident that Gerakan would be able to win some seats in Penang in the next general election because of the in-fighting in Pakatan Rakyat now.

“I hope the people of Penang will realise that after two terms of DAP leading the government, there needs to be more check and balance in the government, and I think having Gerakan members in the Penang assembly will provide the check and balance.

“What is happening, the situation in Selangor, has again confirmed how different the ideologies of the various parties in Pakatan Rakyat are,” he added.

“They have totally different ideologies but are together only for one purpose – to help each other get votes.”

He also drew a comparison between the leadership of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in using diplomacy to get the remains of victims of flight MH 17 plane from rebels in eastern Ukraine, and that of PKR de factor leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who is facing political uncertainty in Selangor because of his insistence that Dr Wan Azizah, who is his wife, become the menteri besar.

“Because of all these reasons I am sure Gerakan will do better in the next general election,” he said, adding that the party is working on its strategies early before the next election which is due in 2018. – September 14, 2014.