Former president and advisor Lim Keng Yaik is suspected of trying to interfere in Gerakan’s internal affairs with the hope of halting the coming emergency general meeting in Penang this Sunday.

An internal lobby group calling for reforms - Geraklah Gerakan - said it was puzzling that Lim held a press conference on Monday, where he “loudly and angrily” denounced party president Koh Tsu Koon, ahead of the EGM on Oct 10.

NONE Spokesperson for the group, Yeap Ban Choon, said Lim was not a Penang delegate but his action and “emotional outburst” indicated that the latter wanted to interfere in the EGM with the intention to stop the event.

“Since he is not able to do so himself, he wanted the president to do so; and when the president said no, the advisor went ballistic, shouting that the sky is falling down,” said Yeap.

Yeap has joined the fray in support of Koh, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, and to welcome Lim’s abrupt resignation from the party advisor’s post.

He said Koh was merely expressing his neutrality by not attending the EGM and Penang delegates has no problem with the latter’s non-attendance.

azlan He added that the EGM, which is expected to see 393 delegates voting on whether to oust state chief Dr Teng Hock Nan from his post, can be handled by the Penang delegates.

“Simply put, the EGM is a Penang matter; there will be people who will think differently but so what? What is the big deal? Why get so upset and behave as if the sky is falling down?” queried Yeap.

Lim resigned as advisor yesterday and claimed that Koh was not proactive in resolving many issues affecting the party, and that he acted “akin to an ostrich burying its head in the ground”.

Lim’s decision came in the wake of Koh saying he could not attend  the EGM on Sunday, which may see members voting Penang party chief Teng Hock Nan out.

‘A true advisor is a neutral person’

Meanwhile, Yeap continued to criticise Lim for not being neutral in the party’s latest leadership crisis.

He said a true advisor, like a priest, is a neutral person and he would merely offer his advice regardless of whether the listener accepts it or not.

“The advice is for the listener to decide on and the listener takes responsibility for his action; a priest does not resign or throw a tantrum if his advice is not accepted,” said Yeap.

“If you get mad when your advice is not accepted then, consciously or unconsciously, you truly intended your advice to be ‘mandatory’ and in that case you are practicing ‘muscle advising’,” he added.

Yeap urged Lim to be respectful of the office of the president and asked him to refrain from abusing the office of the advisor to pursue his own “personal vendetta and ulterior motives”.

He suggested that Lim keep out of party affairs and that the office of the advisor at Gerakan’s headquarters in Kuala Lumpur be abolished.

“On hindsight, it was a mistake to create the office of the advisor to the party. Given this nasty episode, it is time to abolish the office immediately,” he added.