Koh trumpets Gerakan's 27,000 new members

Gerakan has refuted allegations that the party is irrelevant, revealing that since 2008, 27,000 new members have joined the party nationwide.

The party's president, Koh Tsu Koon, said that in Sabah alone, there were about 10,000 new members while in Pahang, about 4,000.

However, Penang recorded a lower number of new members, around 1,000 as many of the party's branches have full membership, he added.

Penang currently has about 50,000 Gerakan members, he noted.

"This reflects that we (Gerakan) are still relevant. It's true that we have registered more members in other states in which we did not have strong influence before, but now we are gaining support there," he told a 200 strong crowd at the party's dinner last night.

"We are the only party which recorded a 100 percent increase in YBs (parliament and state representatives)...we had four of them after the last general election, and now another four who are independent ones from Sabah and Pahang," he added.

"So, don't say we are not relevant. How come these YBs chose us and not others?" he queried.

The state representatives are from Sabah - Raymond Tan Shu Kiah (Tanjung Papat), Au Kam Wah (Elopura) and Peter Pang En Yin (Karamunting ) - and from Pahang - Ho Yip Kap (Tanah Rata).

Since losing all its seats in Penang, the party's stronghold, the 43-year old Gerakan has been written off as an irrelevant.

Lately, there appears to be a concerted effort to oust Koh, who is Penang BN chief, from within and outside the party, propelling the latter into a defensive mode, fighting for his dear political life inside BN.

The embattled Koh, who is also a federal minister, spent the rest of his speech defending his past leadership .

  Guan Eng 'misleading the public'

He castigated detractors like Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and local tycoon Tan Kok Ping ( left ), for saying that he had done nothing for the state which he helmed for 18 years.

He said it was acceptable to criticise him personally, but suggest that Penang was in slumber for many years was an insult to all Penangites who have toiled to develop the state's electronics and tourism industry.

He criticised Lim for being very "crafty and skillful" in misleading the public, often giving the impression that within his brief stint as chief ministership, the latter had managed to achieve RM1 billion in state reserves.

"When we left in March 2008, the state had RM850 million in its state coffers!" Koh exclaimed.

"With the momentum generated in the last few years of our leadership,  Penang has being able to collect more money and save more," he explained.

"The RM1billion reserve is on top of the RM850 million left behind," he stressed.

Meanwhile,  Koh, who is Penang BN chief, reminded members that Gerakan was an opposition party before 1969, urging them to "go back to basics" to continue their political struggle.

He said that when Gerakan was part of the opposition Malayan Democratic Union, it's name in Chinese was similar to that of Pakatan Rakyat.

"We should tell Pakatan that they are using our former brand name, they must pay for it," he joked.

More seriously, Koh urged supporters to be proud of the party's tradition of struggling as an opposition, as not all of its leaders were born as members of the ruling party.

"Don't forget our roots," he said.