Backdoor politics of Gerakan

Crossovers within BN ‘unethical’, says LDP


Peninsular based Gerakan's brazen bid to lure members from other Barisan Nasional component parties in Sabah to boost its membership is irking LDP.

KOTA KINABALU: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) president VK Liew is disappointed that the Barisan Nasional (BN) spirit once upheld by its Sabah partners has melted away.

The rapid switch of members from one BN political party to another which is more closely aligned to Chief Minister Musa Aman, who is also the state BN chairman, has set tongues wagging and provoked Liew to chastise them.

He said BN component party members who had chosen to align themselves with other parties in the ruling coalition had failed to understand the BN spirit.

He acknowledged that some from his own party had decided to join fellow BN component party Gerakan.

Gerakan has taken on the unlikely role of spoiler by accepting all-comers.

It recently gained a backdoor-entry into mainstream politics, despite not contesting in the last election, pushing LDP to a corner.

“I saw in the newspapers some faces from LDP who purportedly have left the party to join Gerakan.

“I am disappointed because it is as though they do not know that it will only reflect badly on their image.

“This is not what the leadership wants since it will not have any bearings on the BN membership statistics at all,” said Liew  when asked to comment on the issue of pinching members from among BN component parties in the state.

Liew, who is also a Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said the BN leadership wanted the component parties to strive to increase membership by recruiting those who have yet to join any party or those from the oppositions.

“But getting so-called new members from another component party will not increase the BN membership,” he said.

Unethical trend

Indirectly criticising Musa and Gerakan, Liew noted that the pinching of members had been ongoing for quite some time and said “this is so unethical”.

“It will only mislead the leadership that the particular component managed to boost their membership only to know that their new members are in fact from another component,” he said.

He challenged Gerakan, who have openly enticed LDP and other BN party members to ditch their present parties and join them, to sign up at least a quarter million young members who are still not registered as voters to prove their popularity.

Meanwhile, Liew admitted that LDP had submitted several names to the Prime Minister to be considered for a senatorship after reports emerged that LDP deputy president Chin Su Phin would be appointed as one under the federal quota.

“We are still waiting and of course the decision is the prerogative of the Prime Minister,” he said.

By Charlie Rudai