KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — Component parties in Barisan Nasional (BN) should be given a bigger role to play in policy making or voters will continue to see the ruling coalition as an Umno-dominated bloc, said Datuk Chang Ko Youn whose Gerakan party saw only one member elected into the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat last May.
Although the Malay party is the dominant force in BN with 88 federal seats in its bag, Chang said it was pivotal for Umno to include its non-Malay allies in charting government policies as the coalition is up against an opposition thriving on the bloc’s lack of cohesion.
“Umno’s dominance is inevitable as they are the dominant party with more seats. But any policies must get the consensus from BN members since the government is made of BN.
“Like the BN election manifesto, it was a BN manifesto. It was done together. We must work together, then only people would see there is consultancy and partnership. If not, the opponents will play on it. Pakatan Rakyat (PR) knows how to exploit the differences so as to create an impression of disunity,” he told a press conference at the party’s headquarters here.
The Gerakan president’s statement comes amid Umno’s growing right-wing slant as the Malay lynchpin faces a potential power-struggle in its upcoming internal polls.
As the country’s majority Malays helped kept BN in power, Umno leaders have become more daring in calling for the reinstatement of pro-Malay policies despite earlier promises for reform, causing further erosion of minority support.
Chang pointed out that Pakatan Rakyat had capitalised on the issue well.
“That is why they only attack Umno, and it arouses anger among the Chinese,” he said, in reference to the community’s purportedly strong rejection of BN in the May 5 general election.
The Chinese, who make up Malaysia’s biggest ethnic group after the Bumiputera, had voted overwhelmingly against the ruling coalition in the last polls, leading to the shrinking of Chinese representation in the government.
MCA, which is BN’s biggest Chinese party, won only seven federal and 11 state seats while Gerakan, also a predominantly Chinese party, which once dominated Penang, one of the states now controlled by PR, was all but wiped out.
Gerakan’s Liang Teck Meng is the party’s sole representative to be elected to the Dewan Rakyat ad Simpang Renggam MP but holds no Cabinet position.
Surveys showed corruption as the major factor behind Chinese rejection towards BN but Umno’s racist politics also contributed to fleeing support towards the opposition.
Chang said Gerakan realised it has deviated from its original struggle in explaining the deteriorating minority support towards BN’s non-Malay component parties.
He said the party, which will be facing elections soon, is now looking inwards for improvement and vowed to return to its centre-left struggles. He further noted that Gerakan’s, a strong grassroots outfit, was once the “conscience” if BN.
“Over the years, we have neglected our very basic philosophy. We were once the conscience of BN. We represented the workers, the trade unions and the poor. We have overlooked these very basic issues. We have to go back to the basics and look back at our constitution,” he said.
Two thousand delegates are expected to vote for a new leadership in the party polls next month.
Chang did not state if he would contest for the party’s top post but had advised against a challenge for the top two posts in order to maintain its unity.
