However, with eight out of the 28 candidates for the 18-member central committee having opted out and the entire Youth national committee having won unopposed since then, the heat seems to dissipated. Incumbent president Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who has been in power since 1980, is also unchallenged. Lim, 63, is the primary industries minister in the cabinet of Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
Although there is still a contest in the Women's wing between the incumbent Kee Phaik Cheen and Rhina Bhar, Kee is widely expected to prevail. Kee, the chief for 17 years, is also an executive councillor (state minister) in the Gerakan-controlled state government of Penang. Rhina, a lawyer, has been with the party since 1976.
With the return of relative stability at the 'outer' zones, the sharp focus is now on the post of deputy presidency whose incumbent, lawyer Kerk Choo Ting, 61, is being challenged by veteran and businessman, Siew Kok Kan, 60. Both are from Perak.
Subject to debate
Kerk, who is also the international trade and industries deputy minister, joined Gerakan in 1982 together with Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon and other Chinese educationists affiliated to Dong Jiao Zong.
Together, they promised to "reform the Barisan Nasional from within". Whether they have succeeded in that, or were instead 'reformed' by the front, is now much debated within the networks of Chinese educationists and their supporters nationwide, especially after the controversy to use English to teach Chinese and Mathematics in all primary schools including vernacular ones.
Kerk, known for his propensity to theorise and philosophise in public discourses in the Chinese-language newspapers, is said to have alienated some of the rank and file of the party in Perak and many Chinese-language journalists as well as educationists who would prefer him to be more specific.
However, for a Chinese-predominant multiethnic party that still competes with the monoethnic MCA within the BN, and the Chinese-predominant multiethnic opposition DAP outside the ruling coalition, Kerk is probably regarded by some 'realists' or 'pragmatists' in the party, including president Lim, to be an asset. Kerk speaks and writes the Chinese language with style and passion.
Kerk has been widely speculated to be the preferred successor by Lim who still has to rely on a Chinese press secretary to read and write Mandarin for him. However, it seems that there is also a more 'idealist' school of thought, mainly in Penang, that suggests that a more 'Chinese' Gerakan would compromise the founding ideals of the party which are multiracialism and multiculturalism.
There are also some 'realist' calculations among the seeming 'idealists'. According to them, since Gerakan is 'naturally' and 'inherently' constrained by the multiethnic composition and ideology, there is no way it can outdo MCA's 'Chineseness'; if it tries, it may alienate its non-Chinese members, leaders, as well as voters.
Different plane
This school of thought prefers Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon to be Lim's successor. Koh is seen to be more multiethnic, cosmopolitan and technocratic in outlook.
The challenger to Kerk, Siew, is a politician on a different plane altogether. Not widely known for theorising or technocratic skills, Siew is, however, a man of practical action and organisation.
Above all, Siew has been with president Lim as far back as the early 1970s when both of them were MCA members. Siew supported Lim when the latter was a reformist-cum-rebel in MCA during the era of the late Tan Siew Sin. Both were sacked by MCA and later joined Gerakan in Perak.
Siew has also been credited for building up the image and organisation of Gerakan in Perak without fanfare. In fact, it is believed that when the politically 'rootless' Kerk was first appointed the chairperson of Perak Gerakan, it was Siew who persuaded the rank and file of the party in Perak to accept and support a Johorean (Kerk) to be their chief. Perak is the political base for both president Lim and Siew.
Thus, whatever his lackings, Siew can pride himself to be a veteran and practical politician who does the real ground work and bring in real votes from real voters for the party. It is certainly a dilemma for president Lim who prefers Kerk as his successor but at the same time appreciates Siew as a trusted and tested comrade and personal supporter in good times and bad, going back as far as their MCA days.
As a realist, Lim also seems to be concerned about the unavoidable loss of one of the two in the coming contest. Ideally, both should be in his team.
A proxy of Koh
In recent days, there is speculation that Siew could be a 'proxy' of Chief Minister Koh. Accordingly, while Koh apparently heeds the presidential call for 'unity', it is to his future interest and ambition to have Kerk weakened first so that after the president retires, he (Koh) could take on the enfeebled Kerk as the successor to the Gerakan presidency.
However, Koh has publicly denied that he is behind Siew's challenge to Kerk. He reportedly claims that his name is being misused in campaigns to support Siew. He also said he supports Kerk.
However, what Koh has reportedly said is one thing, but how his supporters would vote in the party election is another. Objectively, if Koh harbours the ambition to succeed Lim, it is to his interest now to weaken Kerk.
Moreover, Koh, like all leaders in politics, has his pool of supporters who may have their own independent and pettier interests to push for a Koh-Kerk fight in the post-Lim Gerakan. Contrary to popular perception and understanding, political leaders, however powerful they appear to be, are not always capable of controlling their supporters and followers.
Should this occur, then it is only reasonable to expect that while Kerk would prevail as the incumbent, Siew's share of the votes would not be insignificant for observers to look into the future of the post-Lim Gerakan. Umno and MCA are certainly observing the dynamics and trends with active interests.
JAMES WONG WING ON is chief analyst of Strategic Analysis Malaysia (SAM) which produces the subscriber-based political report, Analysis Malaysia . Wong is a former member of parliament (1990-1995) and a former columnist for the Sin Chew Jit Poh Chinese daily. He read political science and economics at the Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. While in Sin Chew , he and a team of journalists won the top awards of Malaysian Press Institute (MPI) for 1998 and 1999.
