Gerakan's central committee has decided to prohibit its president Dr Lim Keng Yaik from talking about retiring from active politics, party secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye announced today, quashing the likelihood that Lim may step aside for his deputy Kerk Choo Ting.

Lim is being barred from responding to media queries or even talking in the open about retirement because the party's highest decision-making body felt that the president should continue his "good work" for the party and the country, Chia (photo left) told Bernama after the party's monthly central committee meeting.

"The CC has asked the president not to pay attention to the calls for his resignation. We have also asked him not to talk on issues pertaining to his retirement," Chia said.

He said this when answering a question originally put to Lim, in which a reporter asked for his response to a resolution by its Taiping division that the president fulfills his 2001 promise to retire in favour of Kerk.

"I can't speak about it," was Lim's response to the question.

Changed mind

In 2002, Lim changed his mind over his original retirement pledge, even as then-Umno president and BN chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad was advising senior BN leaders to step down to give way to new faces.

The party has completed its branch elections, in which only 17 out of 1,132 branches saw contests. The election process for the party's 150 divisions is still ongoing.

However, this year will not see contests for Gerakan's national and state posts, as polls for these seats are held triennially, as opposed to the branches and divisional elections which are held every two years.