The Indian Malaysian faction within Gerakan which was vocal against the party's supposed under-representation of its non-Chinese members now appears to have retreated from its earlier stance.

On Wednesday, group leader A Rajaretnam claimed that about 300 of them had resigned from Gerakan having submitted their resignation letters to their respective branch and division chiefs.

But the Gerakan secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye, when contacted yesterday, confirmed that the party's headquarters had not received any resignation letters from members.

"We have not received any resignation letters so far. But we will probe this further," he said, declining further comment.

Chia's denial was corroborated by the chairpersons of several Gerakan divisions in Selangor that the disgruntled members belong to.

Yap Soon Sun, who heads both the Ampang and Pandan divisions, also said he has not received any resignation letters from the divisions' members to date.

"Instead, I'm receiving a lot of calls about people wanting to join Gerakan. So far, I've received almost 1,000 queries," he said.

Yap, who is the Teratai state assemblyperson, claimed non-Chinese make up only a fraction of the two divisions' 3,500 members.

No unhappiness

Gerakan Hulu Selangor division chief, Ho Yeng Chew, told a similar story.

"I've never received any letters or complaints from our people here. They worked hard during the election campaign period and I've been in touch with the grassroots leaders throughout this time.

"There are a few thousand members in my division's 12 branches and none have raised this matter about resigning with me," he said.

Khoo Chee Wah, the Kuala Langat division chief, said he did not detect any signs of unhappiness amongst his members.

"There are very few Indian members under this division anyway," he pointed out adding they were inactive members who hardly attended any branch or division meetings.

Rajaretnam ( photo, right ) said members who had initially opposed Gerakan's choice of general election candidates are now refusing to be involved in the controversy anymore.

"They have distanced themselves from the issue, now that it has got the attention of the party president.

"They are not even willing to come out in the open. Maybe it is because some of their friends are still in the party," he offered as an explanation.

Notice required

Rajaretnam, who claims to have resigned on March 20, said he would call for a press conference sometime next week to clear the air 'once and for all,' but maintained that Gerakan was a 'Chinese racist party.'

Gerakan's constitution requires a member to give a 30-day notice in writing to the branch secretary with a copy to the party's central working committee via the secretary-general.

The branch secretary will then have to immediately notify the division secretary and the state liaison secretary on the resignation. The common practice, however, is for resignation letters to be sent directly to the party secretary-general.