Gerakan - Teng Must Go

GEORGE TOWN 1 October - Gerakan had to call for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to remove its Penang chief Dr Teng Hock Nan because of his dismal failure to turn around the party's fortunes and improve its political standing among the Penang electorate.

Teng had promised he would “rebuild the party and lead it to the next level” when he was elected as the state chief in October 2008 with a 10-vote majority, claims the Gerakan grassroots movement in Penang (VGG), which engineered the 10-10-10 EGM.

“However, Gerakan’s image and political standing have plummeted over the last two years under Teng’s leadership,” VGG stated in an online statement posted today.

Gerakan’s first ever EGM will be held at the state Gerakan head office in Jalan Macalister here on Oct 10.

Notices have been sent out to all 393 eligible delegates from 197 branches representing some 63,000 members in the state to attend it.

Constitutionally, Teng must step down if the motion of no confidence is carried with a two-thirds majority.

At the state party annual delegates’ conference last Sunday, Teng has declared that he would only step down if the motion is passed.

VGG has collected the signatures of 67 members, 17 more than the 50 required, to call for the EGM under Phase 73.1 of the party constitution with the sole agenda of removing Teng as Penang Gerakan head.

When elected two years ago, the group claimed that Teng was expected to unite and mobilise all members to achieve a common political goal.

Since assuming office, it stated that Teng had a free hand to turn around the party's political fortunes and improve its image among Penang electorate.

But the Gerakan leaders failed to wake to the fact that they had been totally rejected by the people.

“They walk and talk like as if they are still in power,” the statement stated.

VGG pointed out that Gerakan, which does not have any representative in the State Legislative Assembly for the first time since 1969, failed to play an effective opposition role either.

The group alleged that Gerakan had been unable to gauge the people’s sentiment, lacked leadership quality and had little strategic planning.

“All these led to only sporadic and ill-planned attacks on the state government, which further alienated the party from the electorate,” the group claimed.

After being the state's ruling party under the Barisan Nasional banner for 39 years, Gerakan was trounced in Penang in the March 2008 general election, losing in all four federal and 13 state seats it contested.
Two years on since the political debacle, VGG claimed that Teng “still acts the same, talks the same, and thinks the same, and yet foolishly hopes that Gerakan will rise above the crisis and be in power again”.

“Is he folding his arms and waiting for Pakatan Rakyat to implode itself? Does he think that the people will favour Gerakan again?” the group asked.

Acknowledging that Teng had contributed significantly to the party in his long political career, the group, however, cast doubts on his ability to lead Gerakan out of its deepening crisis and deteriorating self-confidence.

Since Gerakan is facing an uncertain future, VGG claimed that members were now yearning for strong leadership, coherent strategies and sound political programmes to actively engage the party with the voters.

“We need a leader who can grasp and show us the big picture, and hold up a beacon of hope to spur us on.

“The leader must be able to unite all factions, harness all the youthful enthusiasm and energy, and channel them to ultimately uphold the party's ideals.

“We need a chairman who places the party above self,” said the group.

Quoting Albert Einstein who had said that “insanity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”, the group urged members to take stock of the party's situation.

“Are we all heading towards the mental asylum?” it asked.
The group called on members to be committed to change now because Gerakan needed a complete revamp in Penang.

But it cautioned that the party was running out of time to “pick up from where it stood now, to improve its image, to undo all the damage done and to regain lost grounds”.

The group, taking a swipe at its detractors who claimed that it was wrong to rock the boat now, said that it was palpably wrong to be on board a sinking boat and do nothing.

The group said that Gerakan members and delegates have taken the unprecedented and painful step of holding an EGM to cast a vote of no confidence on the state chairman after much deliberation and several attempts to find an amicable settlement.

“When a patient comes to a hospital with a ruptured appendicitis, the surgeon chooses to use the sharpest knife on him, not out of hatred but out of the need to save a life,” it stated.

VGG claimed that the grassroots members saw the EGM as a last-ditch effort to save the party from further degeneration.

The group was aware that the EGM would not end all woes, but at least it could stop the rot and revitalise the party.

It expressed confidence that the party would not be worse off after a change in the state chairmanship because there were enough capable leaders to take over.

“The party badly needs new blood, new approach and new energy to overcome the multitudes of hurdles ahead,” it stated.

The group also said it would scrutinise Teng's every move and strategy to let members accurately assess what “the state leader was made of”.


It added that the EGM was imperative for the members to take the first step to salvage the party and move on to a brighter future.

“Not that we love you less but we love the party more,” said VGG.