Penang Gerakan chairman Teng Chang Yeow said he was very proud to be in the previous BN-led state government which did not kill any dogs.

Teng said that the BN government only culled pigs “to save lives” when the nipah virus was spreading as there was no other way to contain the disease.

He added that for rabies, dogs should be vaccinated instead of being captured and killed.

He was referring to the decision announced by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng that the state’s stray dogs population had to be culled to prevent the spread of rabies which originated from Perlis, infecting two people in Penang.

“It’s just how you do it, don’t take the easy way out,” he told the 200-odd state delegates at the party’s annual meeting in Penang today.

“We never catch and kill dogs but maybe that is why there are many mad dogs around these days,” he jested.

Teng ( photo ) recalled that during the 2013 national polls, Pakatan Rakyat claimed that there were 40,000 Bangladeshi phantom voters although the claims were never substantiated.

“Why not ask the 40,000 Bangladeshis to each take one dog home to their country, so that there will be no more stray dogs in the state,” he further joked.

Teng made the comment as the current DAP-led government often blamed the previous administration under Gerakan for the various problems.

“Lucky, we never had rabies before or we would again be blamed for it,” he quipped.

Teng said it was understandable that the state had to act to curb rabies from spreading to humans and pet dogs.

However, the state’s decision to kill the strays had provoked many views from civil society, with several protesting against the move.

He urged Lim to listen to the people’s views in the matter and not to merely stick to his decision to kill the dogs.

“The previous state administration under former chief minister and former Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon used to listen to the civil society, it shows we treasure their views,” he said.

“We had the biggest mandate in 2004 but did not bulldoze our way through, we listened to the different views from the civil society,” he added.

Roundtable discussions

Meanwhile, Teng proposed that Gerakan Youth, led by Tan Keng Liang, initiate a roundtable discussions of all youth movements - within and without BN - to discuss the future direction of the country.

He added that Gerakan had a role to play to bring the people together, especially when the country is being plagued by racial politics and growing polarisation.

He cited the recent racially motivated rallies like the pro-Umno red shirt gathering last Wednesday to counter Bersih’s gathering as a threat to the country’s multi-racial fabric.

He said this was one of the nine approaches in Gerakan’s proposed blueprint dubbed “Comeback” to recapture Penang in the coming national polls, which will be called by 2018.

Teng said other approaches include rolling out 20 new faces who may be considered as future election candidates for the party.

These new faces will have to perform by issuing press statements, calling for press conferences and dealing with the press and the public.

“We even have an in-house trainer to help our members face the crowd,” Teng said, referring to Paul Seah - a former state debating champion - who has been tasked to do the job.

Another item in the blueprint is a proposal for the state’s future development.

Teng criticised the state government for launching a “Paradigm for Penang” in the last national polls, but not much has been heard about the matter after that.

“These days, development in Penang is on auto-pilot mode,” Teng said.

“There used to be criticisms that Koh ( photo ) was the developers’ darling but how can it be so?” he queried.

“Koh only approved a density of 30 units per acre for any development project, but the state these days approved 87 units,” he alleged.

Teng said Gerakan was not the best but it did have a plan for Penang and contributed much to its development in its 18 year-rule prior to 2008.

Other than Koh, also present were veteran leaders like former Gerakan national secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye.

Also present were BN component party leaders like Omar Fauza, Umno state secretary Musa Sheikh Fadzir, state Umno information chief and representatives from MCA, PPP, MIC, IPF.