A grassroots movement in Penang calling itself Geraklah Gerakan (gG) has lashed out at the party's leadership for not participating in Bersih 2.0 campaign for electoral reforms.

NONE The movement's spokesperson Yeap Ban Choon said that the Malaysian mindset has changed and more people are clamouring for fairness, more liberties and transparency.

He added that regrettably, Gerakan has failed to live up to that aspiration as party leaders had been overly concerned with their own personal and economic interests associated with their political positions.

This attitude, he said, attributed to the near oblivion of the Gerakan in the last general election.

gerakan egm 091010 yeap ban choon Yeap ( left ) criticised the party for missing "an excellent opportunity to resusitate and re-invent itself" when it did not participate in the July 9 rally, which he described as a people's movement.

"Is Gerakan taking the attitude, like its Umno partner, that these 62 established NGOs are a bunch of misguided souls, irrational and emotional Malaysians, led by the nose by (opposition leader) Anwar Ibrahim?" he asked.

"Sadly, Gerakan leaders took a 'hands-off' attitude and sat pretty at the cabinet's altar. Gerakan has missed the plot," he lamented.

Party damned for being subservient

Party leaders have claimed that they support some of Bersih 2.0 demands but disagreed with its street-rally approach.

Yeap's retort was that party members were still waiting for concrete action and "other approaches" from the leadership for these demands to be met.

He added that judging from past records, if party leaders continue to be "subservient to Umno", nothing would be done but it was up to them to prove the members wrong.

This movement was earlier responsible for pushing for reforms withing the party and seeking for change in leadership by asking Penang party chief Dr Teng Hock Nan to relinquish his post .

NONE Several of its members had joined the protest in Kuala Lumpur and had witnessed first hand incidents of police brutality on peaceful marchers.

On that day, police arrested a shocking 1,667 people for taking part in illegal rallies and defying police orders to disperse, all of whom were released that night.

The official police report stated that between 5,000 to 6,000 people attended the rally but independent observers stated that the headcount was about 50,000.

Meanwhile, Yeap continued to take his party leaders to task for their pathetic or lack of response towards several issues like the "repressive actions" of the Umno-led government against the rally.

Silence over rally shameless

He queried party leaders for not responding to the arrest of Parti Sosialis Malaysia activists for possession of t-shirts and leaflets under the ridicolous" charge of waging war against the king

and later under the Emergency Ordinance.

He was also peeved with the party's lack of response towards the raid on the Bersih 2.0 secretariat and the demonisation of its chief Ambiga Sreenavasen by Umno leaders, including Prime Minister Najib Razak, who branded her as "anti-Islam".

NONE "Other than the courageous condemnation of the police repression by state legal and human rights bureau chief Baljit Singh , ( left ) national Gerakan leaders' response was a shameless silence,

and, borders on cowardice," he charged.

"Gerakan has to ask itself is how can it let the government use repressive means on the rakyat if it claims to be a progressive party?

"More pertinently, Gerakan has always claimed to be the ‘conscience of the Barisan Nasionalbut now such claim sounds very hollow and superficial.

"The fact is, Gerakan no longer has any conscience," he added.

Teng, however, has spoken out against Malay rights pressure group Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali for telling the Chinese to stock up on food at home because "anything can happen" on July 9, the day of the rally.

Ibrahim, the Pasir Mas MP, had denied threatening the Chinese community but instead said his statement was merely "advice".

Yeap finally said Gerakan needs to consider whether to remain in Barisan Nasional and whether to change the entire team of leadership.

He said the movement regarded it a "fatal mistake" for the party elections to be arbitrarily postponed against all democratic practices.

"It makes it impossible for the party to take on the coming general elections effectively," he added.