‘Gerakan can kiss the party goodbye’ should be the title to this little letter which I’m sure will be much to the chagrin of the late MCA president Tan Siew Sin whom the current Gerakan advisor Dr Lim Keng Yaik knows only too well.

Gerakan likes to maintain that it has a multi-cultural and multiracial stance. However, the facts and figures disprove this. As of 2008, only one of its central committee members is a non- Chinese and the only other non-Chinese is one of the six vice-presidents.

According to WikiPedia, as of 2006, about 80% of Gerakan's members are Chinese, another 15% are Indians and the rest are Malays and other races.

Many Gerakan members realise that a truly multiracial party with an inherently democratic internal administration and a knack for politics to address the needs of the underprivileged is needed for the future.

But they also realise that it is impossible to achieve this with Gerakan - a party that has been bombarded with allegations of nepotism and frequent 'interruptions' by the party advisor in its central action committee meetings.

Lately, before the recently concluded general elections, it surfaced that party advisor Lim had been labeled as practicing nepotism in promoting his son's political ambitions. Lim's son, Lim Si Pin, lost awkwardly in his electoral debut at the Batu Parliamentary constituency going down to Tian Chua of PKR.

His political future seems doomed from the start. Party insiders are worried that Si Pin would still be appointed a senior party official in order to keep the Lim dynasty relevant to Gerakan (Si Pin is now a CAC member).

Recent revelations have shown that confidence in Gerakan has reached an all-time low. The political tsunami of March 8 has affected it in more ways than one and members are realigning themselves by looking up to its one-time nemesis PKR which they see as a bona fide multiracial party.

Things are not looking good for our good Dr Lim who has a medical background but inhales pack upon pack of cigarettes per day.

PKR does not have lopsided representation based on race and it also does not have a racial mentality to begin with. PKR and its allies in Pakatan Rakyat have also swept aside partisan politics in local governance.

Pakatan's modus habenae promotes the welfare of the people as the ultimate concern and political allegiances a far second.

Until and unless Gerakan reinvents itself (and the advisor stops smoking), not only will Umno meet its end by 2013 as predicted by Sanusi Junid, it will have an ally to die with by the name of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia.