Gerakan is prepared to counter key issues to be raised by opposition DAP in the lead-up to the Ketari by-election, said party president Dr Lim Keng Yaik today.

Lim said his party will respond to issues highlighted by DAP including the Vision School project, SRJK (C) Damansara relocation, the Internal Security Act and the low dividend declared by the Employees Provident Fund for last year.

We have prepared answers all that. We notice that the DAP publicity chief, Ronnie Liu, has started the campaign on these issues, he was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama .

Lim who was speaking to reporters after chairing Gerakans Ketari by-election task force meeting at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur added Gerakan would also highlight Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamads recent assurance that Chinese schools were here to stay.

The prime minister has said that the government has no intention to close down Chinese schools in the country, he said.

No legal right

Last Thursday, Mahathir was reported in Chinese newspapers as saying the government has no legal right to close down Chinese primary schools and it can be taken to court should it choose to do so.

Meanwhile, Lim also acknowledged that DAP had been questioning Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koons position as non-executive chairperson of the privatised Penang Water Board.

"They have been criticising Tsu Koon because he has been given the task to take care of the Chinese new village in Perting [in Ketari], where the majority of Chinese voters are located," he said.

Yesterday, DAP Batu Lancang assemblyman Law Heng Kiang lodged a police report against Koh for allegedly contravening the state constitution by holding the post of chairman of PBA Holdings Berhad and its subsidiary, Penang Water Supply Corporation.

Law was quoted in the Star as saying Section 7(9) of the state constitution clearly forbids the chief minister from holding any office of profit and engage in any commercial enterprise.

Task force meeting

Earlier, Gerakan current affairs bureau executive secretary Rene Leow said party components from all over the country would participate in the task force meeting to discuss party machinery in helping out at the by-election.

The Ketari by-election which will be held on March 31, will see a straight fight between Gerakans Yum Ah Ha and DAPs Choong Siew Onn.

The seat fell vacant following the death of its representative, Loke Koon Kam of Gerakan.

The Barisan Nasional candidate won with a 231-vote majority in the 1999 general elections, beating Choong.

Ketari has 17,143 registered voters, of which 95 are postal votes. Chinese Malaysians comprise 53.83 percent (9,228) of the constituency, Malay Malaysians 39.12 percent (6,706) and Indian Malaysians 5.21 percent (843).

The Orang Asli comprise 1.3 percent (223), bumiputra from Sabah and Sarawak 0.21 percent (36) and others 0.33 percent (57).