Penang Gerakan urges Teng to stay

GEORGE TOWN: Penang Gerakan has urged its chairman Teng Chang Yeow (pix) to continue to lead its members despite the latter's declaration that he plans to quit politics altogether following the whitewash that Barisan Nasional (BN) suffered here to the DAP-led Pakatan Harapan.
State party vice-chairman Oh Tong Keong said that the election results were due to the "people's tsunami" and not because of Teng's weak leadership.
And everything in the path of the people's wrath got swept aside including the noble and courteous intentions by Gerakan here.
"We should bear this responsibility together," he told a press conference at the Gerakan headquarters in Penang today.
"Gerakan was founded in Penang, and even though we fared badly, we should defend and protect this 'family'.
"Teng has always played the role of check and balance," he said.
Describing Teng as talented, capable and of high calibre, he said that the state party chairman is still needed, especially to guide the younger members.
"We hope that Teng can continue to lead Penang Gerakan to face future challenges and also to continue in the party's struggles," said Oh, adding that all the thirteen divisions here support Teng's leadership.
Gerakan was established in 1968 as a multiracial party and was an opposition party until it joined Barisan National in 1972.
Teng's path to Penang is similar to the new Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, who begun to regard the state as his home after studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) despite the fact he was born and raised in Kuala Lumpur.
Johor-born Teng came to Penang to study at USM before he began his career in Gerakan, rising through the ranks to become among the state's youngest state executive councilors before he took the helm of the state leadership in 2009.
Among this achievements was to rejuvenate the upper Penang Road stretch to become a major entertainment block for the state in the early 2000s and to help steady the state for its induction as one of the Unesco world heritage site recipients in 2008.