SHAH ALAM, Oct 18 ― Gerakan president Datuk Mah Siew Keong today lamented that the media does not pay attention to his “moderate” party in the same manner that the press highlights racial issues.
The head of the Barisan Nasional (BN) party, whose membership is not based on ethnicity like component parties MCA and Umno, also said he foresees difficult times ahead for Gerakan as the party does not play up racial sentiments to get support.
“When we talk about racial issues, sure get headline. That’s why Gerakan is not in the headline ― because we are a moderate party,” Mah said in his winding-up speech at Gerakan’s 44th National Delegates Conference here today.
“We are going to face a very tough time because we are always in the middle,” he added, pointing out that some political parties either criticised the pro-Malay “Red Shirts” rally or the Bersih demonstration that was purportedly dominated by the Chinese.
“Many parties or leaders always become heroes of [a] race. We don’t want to be heroes of any race, we want to be heroes of Malaysia,” said Mah, who is also Teluk Intan MP.
Mah had earlier at the Gerakan gathering denounced both the alleged acts of stepping on the posters of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and of PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang at the Bersih 4 protest last August, as well as the “Cina babi” (Chinese pig) slurs used at the “Red Shirts” rally last September on the ethnic Chinese.
Gerakan was among the hardest hit in the Election 2008 “political tsunami” that swept it from power in Penang and saw its presence in Parliament dwindle from 10 seats to just two; this fell to a single Parliament seat in the 2013 general election.
Mah won the Teluk Intan federal seat in a by-election last year, narrowly beating DAP’s Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud by just over 200 votes.
