The Great Hop !

Today, A Piece of My Mind will highlight the "adventures" of former Datuk Keramat YB, Mr Lim Boo Chang. I would love to tell the complete story of Mr Lim. But it is not at all necessary because you can read his blog here and his profile here.

Well, at least allow me to briefly say why I think he is an opportunist and a great hopper. If we all remember, he was once under the "multi-racial" Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia. Due to differences with the state and national leadership of Gerakan, he left Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik's ship and crossed over to MCA.

At that point, there was a crisis in Barisan Nasional. Questions were being raised if MCA should take over the Chief Minister-ship of Penang because MCA suddenly had more Assemblymens than Gerakan.

The national leadership of Barisan Nasional held firm that Penang's CM-ship will be held by a Gerakan leader because of the "pact" between Gerakan and BN. For those who have forgotten, Gerakan used to be the Opposition and had great power and influence in Penang.

The objectives of Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu, Prof Syed Hussein Alatas and Tan Sri Dr Tan Chee Khoon in setting up Gerakan and leading it to a multi racial party are no longer practised today. Perhaps the leadership of Gerakan still practise the multi racial approach.

But the image they are portraying to us are not showing any of that at all. Take for instance the resignation of Rhina Bhar - former Perak Gerakan Wanita chief. She claimed that it was for the sake of unity in the party. However, many are viewing this as an act of protest against the leadership of Gerakan who seem to have a racial bias.

There was once a great hoo-haa about a merger between MCA and Gerakan. Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia cannot blame us if we view Gerakan as another Chinese-based party in this generation.

Let me move back to the Great Hopper first and I will elaborate more later on why I think Gerakan is a powerful weapon for Barisan Nasional to fight Pakatan Rakyat and the battleground is in Penang.

Now, Lim Boo Chang went on to MCA and he was given a comfortable and powerful office. He was appointed as MCA Penang's Deputy Secretary cum Legal Bureau Chairman.

Our "good friend" here then suddenly rose to stardom class when he indirectly supports DAP's motion on the PORR project. If I am not mistaken, former YB Tan Cheng Liang was part of this too. So Mr Lim got caught and whipped by BN with suspension soon after.

Both of them had massive support from their constituents and their indefinite suspension was reduced to approximately 10 months. In 2004, he was moved to a Parliamentary seat which he lost and he did not contest in the recent March 2008 General Elections.

On the 15th of June 2008, he joined Parti Keadilan Rakyat. Gerakan became the Titanic and sank in Penang. MCA's performance in March 2008 began to show leaks in their ship. He is a Penangite. We then should ask ourselves. Why didn't he join DAP? DAP trashed Gerakan 100% in Penang, you know?

I think people should personally ask him. However, if you ask me, I would say that Mr Lim could be invited by Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and not the leadership of DAP. Moreover, at the moment, the only multi racial party in the recent tsunami that waved in a "Star Cruise" called Pakatan Rakyat is Parti Keadilan Rakyat.

Mr Lim might be more interested in joining national politics rather than just sitting in Penang with DAP. He might need to join the queue to be somebody inside DAP and what more to say to have hopes to hold office in the Penang Government. Joining PKR and rubbing shoulders with Anwar might give him a better gold mine.

The reasons why he joins PKR, DAP, PSM, etc etc is not a problem and not my concern at all. It is his pattern of crossovers that rings the alarm among voters. I question his loyalty to the party he is a member of. From Gerakan to MCA to PKR, where is your loyalty to the party?

Or was there a reason for you to hop around like a frog, rabbit, kangaroo? Perhaps Mr Lim came across some disturbing information about the party which he crossed over to. Nevertheless, whatever the reasons are, it appears that Mr Lim's loyalty to any political party does not seem genuine at all.

Pardon me for being confrontational and picking on Mr Lim. But I am merely opening up a discussion and review with my readers. You are indeed interesting, Mr Lim Boo Chang.


From Gerakan,

to MCA,

and now PKR?

All right. Let me move on to Gerakan. In Barisan Nasional, among all the component parties, I dare say that Gerakan has the elements of multi racial politics.

UMNO-MCA-MIC are all race based that come together and form the strong Parti Perikatan which is now known as Barisan Nasional. Datuk M Kayveas might come to me and say PPP is also a multi racial party. But the influences of PPP are not as extensive as Gerakan.

Penang is where the tsunami started and where the war is won or lost. Note that I used the word war and not battle. The sentiments in Penang spread all over East Malaysia and will heavily influence the outcome of vote swings. Be it Malays or non Malays, we all pay a lot of attention to Penang.

This little state is very interesting. Penang houses a very diversed and multi racial population. Politicans go in and out of Penang very often to give speeches and goodies. Anwar Ibrahim, Khairy Jamaluddin, Pak Lah, the darkhorses of DAP, powerhouses of MCA and the warriors of Gerakan.

General assemblies of BN can never avoid the affairs of Penang. UMNO, MCA and Gerakan have always tabled motions on Penang. Once a while, MIC will chip in too. DAP needless to say will have the words Penang in their mouth even when they sleep. Now, we have Anwar Ibrahim joining in the carnival in Penang too.

If Anwar steps into Penang, BN should know that there is a reason why. Penangite Malays and non Malays actually hold alot of influence in vote swings nationwide. Whatever news come out from Penang, it will spread like fire. DAP and Anwar successfully stabbed BN in Penang. We all saw how the tsunami started off in Penang where I believe the Malays and non Malays voted for the DAP and PAS.

The effects and ripples then spilled over to Kedah, Perak, Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan KL. Now, if BN wants to be stronger again in the next General Election, the battle in Penang will decide the winner of the war.

Not in Selangor, not in Perak, not in Kelantan and not in Kedah. So what if BN wins Selangor? So what if BN wins Kelantan? It doesnt really matter at all. Winning in Penang will see BN snatching back what was lost in Parliamentary level and other states as well.

The only party that can help BN to stand back up and throw away the crutches they are using now is Gerakan. PGRM will have to go all out from today till the next GE. They will need to make their presence felt among the public of Penang and show to the Penangites why Gerakan is their future.

The Supreme Council of BN should give official orders to Gerakan. "Give us Penang back, Gerakan". These words, I believe, will boost the members of Gerakan and they will go marching out to the streets, markets, shops and houses of Penangites from today till the next GE to show their unity and show to the people their future - Gerakan.

Also, I expect Gerakan to rise to stardom very soon. Yes of course they are already in the news with people like Datuk Lee Kah Choon and Datuk Dr Tan Kee Kwong boarding the "Star Cruise" in Penang and Selangor. These two put Gerakan in the news for the wrong reasons. But we shall see one day where Gerakan will rise to be a very prominent party to challenge the Opposition.

In fact, Gerakan is the most powerful weapon now to put a halt and challenge the rise of Anwar Ibrahim's loosely held Pakatan Rakyat.

Gerakan will be the Great Hopper in BN.