masterwordsmith-unplugged

Yoges Palaniappan wrote an interesting article in The Malaysian Insider about how Gerakan concedes Penang to DAP for another term. The report said Penang Gerakan chief Datuk Teng Hock Nan conceded that DAP can keep the state in the next general elections but said his party has a good chance of recapturing it later.



Teng predicted the ruling Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government will not be in power for a long time and said that the popular chief minister, Lim Guan Eng, will not helm the state after the 14th general elections due to “how Lim handles the state affairs”, adding the people need a strong opposition if they want to keep the Lim Administration.

“With his style of running the government, he will be appointed the chief minister in the next general elections, but ... not the following general elections,” Teng told The Malaysian Insider.

While I acknowledge that the current state government has certain flaws, we have to acknowledge their many achievements recorded in the last 29 months. I blogged about it in this post called Let's Make It Happen where I highlighted key accomplishments as spelled out in the Penang state government's 30 People Centric policies pamphlet.

What did the previous government have to show in Penang after such a long reign? More importantly, what problems did they leave behind for the current government to settle? How has the previous group reacted to the present PR state government? Penangites are well aware of the many incidents and I have no wish to repeat them. The many records in various online news portals bear testimony to those run-ins.

While it can be seen as a gallant admission that the current PR-led state government has gained more ground, could it be a reverse psychology ploy to fish for sympathy votes?

Note that Teng urged Penangites to give the party “a chance” in the next general election to play the role of a constructive opposition in the state assembly.

Have they been constructive so far??? Or have they been throwing spanners in the works?

I do agree with Datuk Dr. Teng that Gerakan is 'pereived as weak' and that it is possible to gain more ground in the 14th GE - but only if there is a complete overhaul in the leadership, vision and manner of executing their mission for the rakyat.

Till then, perhaps Gerakan can work to show us their mettle and many reasons why they merit a second chance. Less talk and more action will certainly do the trick.

Kudos to the present state government but whilst they can gloat over some accomplishments, I sincerely hope that they will not rest on their laurels but will continue to do their utmost for the rakyat and give us more reasons as to why we should vote them again in the next GE.

Always, RAKYAT FIRST!!!