Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik's statement that he would step down as party president in 2007 but would remain as a cabinet minister earned the wrath of one of his vice-presidents today.

Describing Keng Yaik's retirement plans as 'confusing', Gerakan vice-president Dr Tan Kee Kwong also said that this was an indication of the president's dictatorial style.

"He said he will no longer be party president but will continue as a minister. What is this? Has Dr Lim forgotten that the ministerial post for Gerakan should be decided by the party and not by him alone?

"We all know that appointing a minister is the prerogative of the prime minister. In this case, has the prime minister been consulted and did he (PM) agree to it?", he asked.

Tan told malaysiakini today that it has now been proven that Lim was running Gerakan like a dictator, ignoring everybody except himself.

The party veep who is aligned to presidential challenger Kerk Choo Ting also blasted Keng Yaik for changing his mind constantly and not keeping to his promise about stepping down.

"In 2004, Keng Yaik told me that he and Kerk will become backbenchers in 2006 just like me, and Dr Koh Tsu Koon will take over as president. Many party members have sent SMS messages to me saying that they cannot trust Keng Yaik anymore," he recalled.

He also criticised Keng Yaik as being out of touch with the grassroots and the masses, claiming that the survey conducted by Chinese Radio 988 yesterday revealed that 90 percent of those who called in wanted Keng Yaik to retire.

'Political coward'

Taking a swipe at his vice-presidential challenger Chang Ko Youn, Tan described him as a 'political coward' for not being daring enough to contest the Taiping parliamentary seat last year after it was vacated by Kerk.

He said that Chang passed over the opportunity by making an excuse that his supporters were not in favour of the move as Taiping was considered an unsafe seat for the BN. Kerk won with a reduced majority in the 1999 general election.

Tan also told malaysiakini that he and Kerk have to face many obstacles when trying to meet party delegates.

"Many meetings were cancelled at the last minute. As an example, Kerk and I were supposed to meet with 55 party members in a Kuala Lumpur restaurant tonight. But Keng Yaik called the party member who was organising the function and scolded him"

Asked on the overall performance of Keng Yaik as president, Tan conceded that Keng Yaik has improved the party to a considerable level.

"However, more should and could have been done. The party has to be allocated more government posts in order to accelerate its influence and bargaining power within the BN," he said.