Gerakan has own strategy for GE14, says party VP

Gerakan has its own work plan and strategy for the 14th General Election (GE14), says party vice-president Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai.

He said in this regard, the party machinery need not follow the work plan of the UMNO machinery because both parties had different 'audience'.

"We admit the UMNO machinery is huge and powerful, especially to the Malay community and villages but Gerakan covers the people in the city, villages and all the races.

"Therefore, leave us to our own way of doing things," he told reporters after opening the Pahang 36th Gerakan Delegates Conference at Wisma Gerakan here, Sunday.

He was commenting on a statement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, calling on Barisan Nasional (BN) component parties, especially Gerakan and MCA to follow the work plan of the UMNO machinery if they wanted to recapture Penang.

Lau said, what was of paramount importance was that BN component parties were united and had mutual respect as in the 2014 Teluk Intan, Perak, parliamentary by-election, allowing Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong to defeat DAP candidate Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud with a slim majority of 238 votes.

Commenting on Gerakan's preparation for GE14, he said the party had 90 per cent identified qualified candidates to compete in the 12 parliamentary seats and 33 state seats nationwide.