One week after the Gerakan elections, fissures are beginning to appear between the Youth and Wanita wings.

The issue in dispute is the Youth's proposal to allow women aged 35 and below to join the all- male wing in order to give it an added boost.

This, according to the newly elected Wanita chief Tan Lian Hoe, is redundant and unnecessary.

The proposal was among the resolutions passed at the Youth annual delegates conference last week.

Explaining its stand, the wing's new deputy chief Lim Si Pin said the presence of women could help the Youth contribute more.

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"Having young women members can help reignite our movement and make our activities not seem one-sided.

"We will be able to look into what are the issues faced by young mothers, single mothers and young women in general," he added.

On why the bar was set at 35, Lim said this is because Wanita members could decide to switch and this would affect the particular wing.

No consultation

However, Tan was unconvinced about the need to implement this proposal.

"We are working hand-in-hand now, we belong to the main body and there would not be any difference (if the proposal is accepted)," she said when contacted.

The Bukit Gantang MP also denied that her resistance was due to the fear that if the proposal was accepted, the Wanita wing could see a drop in membership.

According to her, only 30 percent of the wing's members fall into that age category.

Asked why she is insisting on gender segregation, she replied: "My girls (young Wanita members) are new in politics and feel more comfortable joining us instead of mixing with the men."

She also pointed out that the Youth wing did not consult the Wanita wing before passing the resolution.

Nevertheless, Tan said she will meet with her male counterparts to gather more views.

Different needs

Responding to this, Lim said he disagreed with the Wanita chief's argument.

"I don't entirely agree with her opinions, let the young Wanita members make their own decision.

"The proposal should be further explored, maybe there is a difference between what the young women and what the so-called older women want, they should hear the views first," he said.

He noted that with the current organisational structure, cooperation was lacking between the two wings with only one joint programme held since last year.

"In that programme, I don't think the young Wanita members were uncomfortable, they were more than willing to have joint activities. I don't understand why there should be resistance from the Wanita leaders," he said.

Lim, who is the son of Gerakan president Dr Lim Keng Yaik, also stressed that young Wanita members will benefit from joining the Youth wing.

"They will be politically trained to think about the bigger picture and not only see things from the male-female perspectives. If they join Wanita, they will only fight for one-sided rights," he said.

"They can return to Wanita after 35. We are not taking away Wanita members but we want an open referendum to know the views of the grassroots," he added

Currently, only the Youth wings of opposition parties Parti Keadilan Rakyat and DAP are made up of both sexes.