Dr Thor Teong Gee’s resignation from all party posts in Gerakan on Thursday has revealed serious leadership problems within party’s Penang chapter, say former and current leaders.

Thor, the party’s former national deputy secretary, resigned after acting chairperson Oh Tong Keong took to the press to say why the former was not qualified to be the candidate for the Sungai Pinang state seat.

Thor had given up his seat to Oh but the latter insisted that he was merely telling the truth, saying there were differences in opinions in the national and state leadership over the choice of candidates for the coming national polls.

He echoed state Gerakan chief-cum-state BN chief Teng Chang Yeow’s remarks during the Jelutong division annual general meeting (AGM) on Aug 13, where he chided party veterans for intervening in the selection of candidates.

Teng had said he would respect the decision of the party central leadership, but would expect them to show reciprocity by heeding the opinions of the grassroots to ensure winnable candidates would be fielded at seats like Jelutong, which has a chance for a ‘zero breakthrough’ in the coming polls.

But Gerakan members views Oh’s action as being orchestrated by others with vested interests and more powerful than himself.

They even went as far as to say that the Penang chapter is now being led more by “puppets” and “followers” instead of leaders and intellectuals.

Former state Gerakan wanita chief Rowena Yam, who resigned from her post last year, finds the current developments not surprising because more than a year ago, she had already noticed the party being “directionless”.

“Honestly, there are many puppets inside just taking instructions without knowing what is happening,” she told Malaysiakini.

“They are more concerned with the infighting, backstabbing and who goes up the hierarchy rather than issues which can benefit the people or what they can do for the people,” she added.

“The public do not want to see that and airing dirty laundry in public does not help at all.,” she stressed.

“What more do they want? We have taken a step back and let them do things their way. Why do they still want to attack?” she asked.

Situation has reached ‘a critical stage’

Rowena has been very quiet since her resignation last year but has been following developments in the party. To her, the situation has reached “a critical stage”.

She offered some solution to help turn the situation around, and continues to have hope in the party.

“Don’t waste time to bring one person down. He is our own member. If you use your energies to bring LGE (chief minister Lim Guan Eng) down I can understand.

“All of us want what is best for the party,” she said.

She urged party leaders to implement whatever strategies and plans they have promised to do after the 2013 national polls, where Gerakan failed for the second time to obtain any seats.

“It is time for everyone to come together instead of wasting time to attack one person who is not going to change the outcome of the coming election.

“They are barking up the wrong tree and should get their priorities right,” she said.

Pulau Tikus branch chief Dr Tan Boon Cheong observed that the party now lacks “independent-minded” leaders but are led by followers who carry out instructions without questioning or analysing the critical issues at hand.

He felt that independent and intellectual-minded members are being sidelined and the party is being plagued by factional war.

He added that leaders prefer to divide and rule instead of promoting unity between the diverse membership, adding, “Followers are easier to control”.

“But it is not wrong to have different views in the party, they are not the enemies, as no one is indispensable.

“Even when the late Penang chief minister Dr Lim Chong Eu stepped down from his post in 1990, the party continued to lead Penang until 2008,” he noted.

“A good leader should united all the different forces and not isolate those who think different,” he added.

“Don’t hold any grudges against those with different or critical opinions, invite them to discuss things over and find a win-win solution to every problem or issue,” he stressed.

He wonders if the current developments in Gerakan, where Thor had to thrown in the towel after being publicly humiliated, was a “planned move”.

Leadership’s inability to manage the situation

He came by the opinion after analysing the chronology of events which led to Thor’s resignation, and found that it was the leadership’s inability to manage the situation.

Tan urged the central leadership to intervene in Penang Gerakan’s internal crisis as the situation can no longer be managed by local leaders who are “biased”.

A grassroots leader, Rajesh Calais, said that party needs strong and dynamic leadership to steer the ship to victory but it is still “clouded with challenges of internal factionalism”.

He urged Gerakan leaders not to encourage factionalism, saying it is a “bad and cancerous word”, asking his comrades to look at Umno’s factional war as an example.

He took the party’s leaders to task for airing their grouses publicly, saying they were not effective in containing members complains internally.

“Although at times, I am not happy with the administration and certain personalities, I never took it out to the open space, and I am not about to do it,” he said.

“If an ordinary grassroot member like me can think like this, I am sure the leaders will also be composed and calm and not take issues out of context, leaving undesirable examples for us grassroots to emulate,” he added.