COMMENT Gerakan should extricate itself from being under the thumb of Umno before it could play a meaningful role in Penang.

People in Penang want a dynamic opposition, but not an opposition that has a very tainted past.

Gerakan, having sacrificed the interests of the Penangites for a few decades, seems to be lamenting that the present DAP-led government is hijacking cultural and religious events run by local communities and groups.

The party’s Youth wing secretary, Ooi Zhi Yi, said that the Penang state government had hijacked the annual ceremony of the Jade Emperor (Phai Then Kong) at the Chew Jetty on Feb 15, 2016.

He also added that the Penang state government through its statutory body, the Hindu Endowments Board (PHEB), is proposing to run the silver chariot procession currently being managed and organised by the Chettiar community.

Ooi also posed the question whether the state government has any hidden motive to take over these festivals.

Gerakan, a component member of the BN, administered Penang for about 18 years under two chief ministers before it lost all its seats in the 2008 general election. It also lost the last 2013 general election.

The fact is that Gerakan has failed the Penangites miserably.

This is the reason why Penangites voted overwhelmingly for the DAP-led government.

There are no reasons to believe that Gerakan can make a comeback in Penang, al least until it severs its relationship with Umno.

Memories of Gerakan’s administration are still fresh in the minds of Penangites.

Gerakan failed the Penang people because it totally capitulated to the whims and fancies of Umno.

Although the former chief minister, Koh Tsu Koon, was from Gerakan, it was Umno, for all intents and purposes, that controlled and managed Penang.

Koh was relegated to an inconsequential role.

If DAP had not contested in the 2008 election, the people in Penang were sure that even the post of chief minister would have gone to Umno.

Penangites were united in opposing BN and mainly Umno for having grand designs on Penang.

Gerakan party members have forgotten it. There is the problem of amnesia among Gerakan members.

‘No intention of taking over’

The Penang state government has no intention of taking over and managing cultural or religious events.

In fact, we respect the people more than how Gerakan did when it was under the thumb of Umno.

While the Penang government does not interfere, it is always possible for the government to favour groups or organisations that are bent on showing transparency and accountability in organising events.

There is no way for the Penang government to support groups which are openly hostile against it and groups that are political and who take every opportunity to undermine the efforts of the Penang government.

The case of the ceremony of the Jade Emperor at Chew Jetty could be an example of this.

In the case of the Thaipusam festival, the state government does not interfere as to who is going to organise the annual chariot procession.

Even before the Chettiars took over the procession, it was the Indian labourers who had organised the event some 200 years ago.

So what tradition or cultural practice are we talking about?

Recently, the PHEB proposed that it would be organising the annual chariot procession during next year’s Thaipusam.

Don’t forget, it was the PHEB that is the principal body that has been organising Thaipusam, not the chariot procession, for many years.

What the PHEB is asking is not something that is unfair.

Since it is the principal body that is organising Thaipusam, it should organise the chariot procession. I don’t think that this represents gross interference into local cultural activities.

The Gerakan Youth wing should make attempts to understand the situation first before jumping to conclusion.

Sorry to say, in its haste to condemn the state government, matters are simply looked at from a specious angle.

My humble suggestion is for Gerakan to fathom its own current political malaise and find ways to play a more dynamic opposition role in Penang.

Penangites want an opposition, but an opposition without a terribly tainted past.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.