DO OR DIE

Want it or not, we need to accept the fact that Gerakan has moved to the irrelevancy zone post-2008 General Elections. In history of Malaysia politics, a fallen political party especially a ruling party (such as PPP in Perak and Labour Party in Penang) is hard to revive. The only way is to make a big impact or give the people a ‘wow’ factor before gaining back the support. The possibility of Gerakan to be back on track in Penang is very near to zero. What Gerakan can do now is to sustain an existence appearance in Penang (since significance appearance is almost impossible, existence appearance of around 5 state seats and 2 Parliamentary seats should be viable) for the next 2 to 3 terms. After successfully maintain its existence appearance, only then Gerakan can plan to gain back Penang state ruling rights. In business term, Gerakan needs to carry on their business for no profits for at least 10 years. In order to achieve that, there will only be two way. The first way is for the President, Koh Tsu Koon to change his political path; changing from low politics to high politics. Just like what Chua Soi Lek has done for MCA. He gives up a cabinet post so that he is not bonded with cabinet collective responsibility. He becomes more and more vocal even though the issues that he is trying to champion are going to bring the government a hardship. The second way is to choose a new and young leader, a non-controversial one, even with a non-name figure also will do, to lead the party. His or her main responsibility is to give a fresh look for Gerakan, assuming to reform Gerakan from zero. This will be better than lying on Gerakan’s old image which has been tarnished for tens of years especially in Penang.