GERAKAN is looking at a comeback after its candidate, against all odds, won the Kulim seat in Kedah in Saturday’s six-state elections.

Selangor Gerakan chairman Henry Teoh told The Malaysian Insight that only 11 of the party’s 36 candidates lost their deposits, another feat for the 55-year-old party.

Election Commission records show 18 Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidates lost their deposits – five from Bersatu, two from PAS and 11 from Gerakan.

Teoh said winning Kulim was the break the party needed to stage a comeback and recalibrate its strategy.

Dismissed and ridiculed before the state polls and seemingly headed for the political scrap heap, Gerakan caused a surprise when its candidate Wong Chia Zhen, contesting under the PN banner, gained 23,278 votes to oust his Pakatan Harapan challenger from PKR, “Awang Teh” Lean Ong, who polled 15,536 votes.

The party, which once administered Penang from 1969 to 2008, faced a significant decline in support after the 2008 general election (GE).

In those polls, Gerakan won only one parliamentary and three state seats, and in 2018, it didn’t win any parliamentary seat and managed to get only one state seat.

The party contested in the 2022 GE as part of PN but failed to win any seat.

“The question on everyone’s lips now is: ‘Has this Penang-based multiracial party finally turned the corner?’” Teoh said.

“From the state elections, it is evident PN is acceptable to the people, whereas the … Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition is not what the people desire.

“It campaigned against corruption but in the end it associates with corrupt people.”

Teoh said PH accommodating these people in its unity government was what turned supporters away.

He dismissed talk that Gerakan’s sole success was due to Malay support.

Using the Kuala Kubu Bharu state seat he contested as an example, Teoh said he expected to receive only around 5% of the non-Malay vote.

But post-election analysis showed he gained 10% of the non-Malay vote.

“In past elections, all non-Malay votes went to the DAP, but these elections showed they have slightly shifted towards PN, which surprised me.

“This also showed non-Malay voters are not influenced by the false claims of DAP, such as the notion that voting for PN means they can’t wear shorts or drink alcohol,” said Teoh.

Teoh, Chng Boon Lai (Parti Rakyat Malaysia), Lee Kee Hiong (PH/DAP) and Siva Prakash (Muda) took part in the four-way fight for the 40,015-voter Kuala Kubu Bharu.

PH incumbent Lee kept the seat by picking up 14,862 votes to Teoh’s 10,743, Siva’s 1,186, and Chng’s 527.

Liew Wui Chern, political expert at University Tunku Abdul Rahman, agreed winning Kulim could be a turning point for Gerakan.

“It may not be a complete rebound, but at least there is progress and a glimmer of hope.”

Liew said Gerakan had extremely low vote percentages in the past, and its candidates would always lose their deposits.

“For the past 15 years, Gerakan has been a non-entity in every election, thrashed everywhere it stood.

“But this time, riding on the Malay tsunami, it managed to secure one seat. 

“Even though it did not win any seats in Penang this time, in Bayan Lepas where party president Dominic Lau contested, he managed to get over 10,000 votes and he retained his deposit. This can be considered a significant win.

“This state elections would certainly boost Gerakan and its supporters’ morale and make them feel vindicated that joining PN was the right choice,” Liew said.

Liew said Gerakan must be riding the high of its successful Chinese candidate, Wong, being appointed an executive councillor by Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor.

“From Gerakan’s perspective, it is time to start anew and make a comeback. It should remain firmly with PN if it is to stand any chance of winning seats in Penang in the next general election.

“After maybe one or two more rounds of elections, (Gerakan) might have a chance to regain Penang.”

Liew said although Gerakan is in PN, it cannot blindly follow the coalition’s leadership, and needs its own direction.

“It remains to be seen whether the party can ride on this small achievement to … realign its objectives. Without this, it will remain a small party in PN to showcase the coalition’s claim of ethnic diversity,” he said.

‘Nothing will change for Gerakan’

Social and political activist Vincent Thock Kiah Wah however disagreed with Liew and slammed Gerakan’s current direction.

“This (Kulim) was not a seat Gerakan was allocated. It was one the party had to beg from PN,” he said.

“Kulim is not a Chinese-majority seat nor was it a mixed seat. It is a Malay-majority seat.”

He said winning just one seat does not in any way reflect the party’s core values and principles.

“Gerakan triumphed on its knees. I find this tragic.”

He said if in the next election Gerakan does not get support from PN allies, the party is doomed.

“In the 1960s, under the leadership of the late Lim Chong Eu, Gerakan had prestige. He (Lim) had political ideals of promoting racial diversity, fostering a political concept of coexistence and integration among Malaysians.

“Gerakan should return to its fundamental ideas and party values. It shouldn’t exist merely to survive and cooperate with others, struggling for survival.

“It’s better for the party to dissolve than to continue in this manner,” Thock said.

Thock said if the party has to compromise its multiracial ideals to collaborate with PN, then it is betraying its foundations.

He said Gerakan should stop working with PN if the party still believes in multiracialism.

“(Gerakan is) now begging PN to accept it, compromising the once noble political ideals of the party. What’s the point?”

He said if Gerakan wants to maintain its ideals of upholding racial and religious diversity, it should consider going “the third force” route like Muda.

“By sticking to your own multicultural path, you can highlight the values of your struggle and existence.”

But Thock said if PN needs non-Malay parties to join it, Gerakan should use the situation to lay down some ground rules.

“For one, Gerakan needs to tell PN it can’t accept extreme, racist ideologies.

“It is about establishing a clear political stance and returning to the party’s ideals,” Thock said. – August 17, 2023.