Gerakan says it’s more multi-racial than DAP
(Malay Mail Online) – Gerakan today conceded that its membership was primarily Chinese as with DAP, but maintained that the similarities ended there as its approach was purportedly more multiracial.
Commenting on an Umno minister’s criticism of DAP’s perceived Chinese bent, Mah Siew Keong, the Gerakan president pointed to his party’s more diverse leadership as evidence of its greater multi-culturalism compared to its traditional rival.
“The majority of our members are Chinese but we are multiracial. Our stand and position is as a multiracial party. Our leaders are also multiracial; we have Malay and Indian vice presidents,” he told reporters during a press conference at the party headquarters today.
Mah added that Gerakan was also actively trying to engage others besides the Chinese community, although he did not elaborate on what these efforts entail.
Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang, who spoke separately with Malay Mail Online, insisted that DAP was inherently race-based despite the party’s affirmations of being multi-racial.
Agreeing with Umno’s Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak’s assessment of DAP, Tan echoed Mah’s views that the rival party’s leadership controverted its claim to represent all races, and contrasted it to Gerakan’s own.
Citing the recent Selangor DAP election in which the highest-voted leader, Gobind Singh Deo, was passed over for the chairman’s post in favour of Tony Pua, Tan said there was a feeling that race may have played a part in the decision.
“Look at the list of top leadership. Does it represent multiracial? The list is self-explanatory. If you look at sentiments among their grassroots, the delegates who they voted for during the party elections, it shows that most of the delegates prefer a particular race,” Tan said.
Although the two Gerakan men claim a more diverse leadership, the racial composition is comparable to DAP; both have one Malay and Indian vice president each, but the rest of their senior leaders are all Chinese.
Tan earlier also conceded that his party’s base was observably dominated by the Chinese, saying that this was undeniable based on its history, but insisted that there were no racial barriers in Gerakan.
When pressed on whether his party should, for instance, grow its Malay membership to 50 per cent of the entire party to more accurately reflect its professed multi-racialism and the country’s population, Tan disagreed.
“If I say Gerakan has to start recruiting Malay, that’s not a multiracial approach,” Tan said when arguing that politics in Malaysia should cease to be communal.
Salleh yesterday disputed DAP’s insistence that it was not Chinese-based, and told the rival party that it will not convince the public otherwise by fielding token Malay candidates in elections.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng today admitted that his party’s members were primarily Chinese, but insisted that this did not mean that it was anti-Malay or Islam as perceived.
A recent survey by the Institut Darul Ehsan think tank found that DAP was viewed by the Malay community as a Chinese party that was only concerned with the latter group’s interests.
The study also showed that the perception was worsening as both rival Umno and former ally PAS were now attacking DAP on religious matters.
