KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 6 — Gerakan today criticised its chief political rival DAP over the latter’s two-term administration of Penang, also accusing the federal opposition Pakatan Harapan of having a “dynastic” system where power was allegedly passed down within families.
Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong claimed that DAP has failed to fulfill its promises after taking over Penang since 2008.
“These 10 years, DAP got the most seats, but after 10 years, all they have is their seats. They have changed their honesty, their principles, standpoint, morality — they have dumped it.
“Dumped it where? Dumped for land reclamation for Penang,” he said during a joint MCA-Gerakan rally called “Stronger Together”.
He accused the DAP-led government in Penang as being arrogant and having made “false promises” prior to previous general elections.
“After 10 years of ruling Penang, DAP has crushed the hopes of Penang, Penang today is a pearl that no longer shines.
“The dream of the people to have a CAT government has been crushed. Where is the competency? Where is the accountability? Where is the transparency?” he claimed, taking a jab at the DAP-led Penang administration’s Competency, Accountability, Transparency (CAT) initiative.
Mah claimed that DAP has failed to care for the environment or the welfare of hillslope residents in Penang, accusing it of not failing to prepare affordable housing and to develop Penang’s economy responsibly.
He also claimed that the DAP blames others such as Gerakan over its faults and claims credit for the groundwork for Penang’s development that he said was laid by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
The federal Opposition had in a surprise win in Election 2008 won control of five states including Penang, continuing to retain the state in Election 2013 with DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng also keeping his role as Penang chief minister.
Before DAP took over, Gerakan leaders had served as Penang chief minister for decades.
When asked later whether Gerakan already had a candidate for the Penang chief minister post if it wins in the next elections, Mah merely told reporters: “We have a lot of capable candidates for Penang, we have 17 seats there. A lot of capable candidates, but we have not discussed about these candidates, because I think we should win first.”
Earlier, Mah also attacked Pakatan Harapan over its alleged “hereditary” leadership structure, saying: “In the past 10 years’ political development, the opposition’s two-party system is actually a two-generation system, where it is passed down from one generation to another.”
As Mah spoke onstage, a montage of photos of opposition leaders was displayed on the large screens in the hall, showing DAP’s Lim Kit Siang and his son Lim Guan Eng, PKR’s Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah and daughter Nurul Izzah Anwar, as well as Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and son Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir.
Mah also cast doubt that Dr Mahathir would actually be an interim prime minister and relinquish the post to Anwar, citing the latter’s past imprisonment during Dr Mahathir’s rule as prime minister.
“He is the one who put Anwar in jail, you think Dr Mahathir will give the position to Anwar after becoming prime minister? I don’t think so, he can only give to Mukhriz, that is the reality,” he told the crowd.
Anwar is currently serving a jail term. Pakatan Harapan is expected to announce after tomorrow’s convention its proposed candidate for prime minister and deputy prime minister if it wins Putrajaya in the next polls.
MCA president Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, who also spoke during the rally, similarly took aim at its archrival DAP which he blamed for the racial and religious extremism in Malaysia.
“Because in the past, DAP asked the people to support PAS, support Islamic theocracy; today it has reached a very serious stage. Because in this country, if we continue to allow Islamic theocracy to develop, it’s a road of no return,” he said.
Claiming that DAP was today most fearful of explaining to the public its past cooperation with PAS and alleged enabling of the latter to become a national party, Liow demanded: “So for this move, DAP has to apologise to the people, has to apologise to the Chinese community.”
Both Mah and Liow spoke predominantly in Mandarin during the rally that was attended by 3,118 members from both parties, including about 1,200 from Gerakan.
Mah said it was the first time that he had delivered most of his speech in Mandarin at an event of such significance, noting that he had spent three days practising his speech of around 30 minutes.
His efforts were loudly applauded by the crowd, who also laughed good-naturedly at the humourous mistakes made occasionally during the speech.
