Would Gerakan turn out to be another People's Progressive Party (PPP)? Both Gerakan and PPP are multi-racial parties, and used to be opposition parties before eventually joining the BN coalition. PPP was based in Perak while Gerakan is based in Penang. The only difference is, PPP became an empty bubble 30 years earlier than Gerakan.

Who cares about PPP today? Probably, only PPP President Datuk M. Kayveas does. PPP managed to get only one parliamentary seat (Beruas) and two state seats (Chemor and Bidor) in the 1974 general elections that led it to an end.

Today, Gerakan gained only two parliamentary seats and four state seats in the recent elections. And the worst is, it has lost all its parliamentary seats in Penang.

Why did Gerakan suffered such a great defeat? Who did it lose to? It might gain some support with its multi-racial ideology if it was an opposition party. But the ideology was not applicable after Gerakan joined the BN coalition.

The structure of the BN coalition is based on racial component parties that possess their own regimes. Powers were allocated according to the size of their regimes. This distribution of power does not benefit a multi-racial party.

Thus, Gerakan could only gain support in minority constituencies and Penang was one of these constituencies.

Originally, it was a secure constituency for Gerakan as it could keep its regime as long as it understood that Penang voters wanted only Chinese to be the Chief Minister and they did not want the state government to fall into the control of Umno.

Unfortunately, Umno was not cooperative enough. In the past 30 years, the strength of Umno has made Gerakan lose support from the people with its multi-racial ideology. Gradually, Gerakan became cooperated to fit in the culture of BN under the pressure of Umno.

Gerakan maintained silence most of the time on issues like racial division, religious contradiction, marginalisation of the Indian community, social justice, the independence of the judiciary and the freedom of expression. Of course, voters and its previous supporters were actually watching.

Today, Gerakan suffered a great lost and there would be no hope for it if it makes no changes.

Perhaps Gerakan would have to bravely promote afresh its multi-racial ideology to inject a new spirit and vitality into the party. Of course, it might be weak on its own. So, Gerakan should invite MCA, MIC and BN member parties from East Malaysia to work together in promoting reform within the BN coalition. Otherwise, it should withdraw from the BN coalition to find its own way. (By TAY TIAN YAN/ Translated by SOONG PHUI JEE/ Sin Chew Daily)