Gerakan vice-president Dr. Goh Cheng Teik urged Gerakan members in Penang to resign because the party has no future under the poor leadership of Chief Minister Koh Tsu Koon.

He made the call in a statement after he announced his resignation tonight. He said he quit the party in order to openly show his solidarity with Lim Chien Aun and Lim Boo Chang, the two newly elected assemblymen who left the party yesterday.

He cited that when he contested the party's Penang state chairman post against Koh Tsu Koon, both of them stood by him.

"Now that they have decided, after careful thought, to resign from Gerakan, I have, as a matter of principle, to reciprocate and support their stand," he said.

He pointed out that both Lims were hardworking and mature politicians but they were disappointed when they received no help from state party leaders.

"Instead of giving help, these leaders play politics with the people's problems that they bring to them," said Goh.

He said he agreed with the two Lims when they accused the present state party leadership of "extremely poor quality".

"Koh, in particular, attaches more importance to the amount of publicity he gets than to really solving the problems faced by common people."

He added that if Koh continued to lead the state government, Penang would soon lag behind other states.