Q&A Despite being a relatively small party, Parti Gerakan has managed to keep its 'jewel in the crown', the chief minister's post in Penang, for three decades. For an idea of where the party is heading,malaysiakini speaks to its secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye in the run-up to the party's national delegates conference in Kuala Lumpur on Sept 28 and 29.

Malaysiakini: Gerakan claims to be a multi-racial party but it is perceived to be predominantly Chinese. What is your comment?

Chia: It's a question of form and content. The racial composition in the party must reflect the country's racial make-up, then only are we truly multi-racial. For example, we will be multi-racial if we have 55 percent Malay members, 35 percent Chinese and the rest Indians and others.

However, for Gerakan, the first and most basic right of a citizen is freedom of association, which is why our party is open to all citizens of Malaysia who are above 18. This is a very important principle. It means any Malaysian can join Gerakan - regardless of race or religion. Unlike, for example, PAS, which only accepts Muslims into their party.

Why do you think the non-Chinese, especially the Malays, are not joining your party?

Our first step was to open our doors. Whoever who subscribes to our ideas reflects the realities of society. If we have more Chinese, then we become a predominantly Chinese party but still multi-racial. Malays are not joining us because we are not making an impact or maybe it is due to some historical reason, but the fact is that our doors are still open.

The second step pertains to our ideological struggle within and outside the party. Within the party, we cannot deny that those who join may not fully subscribe to our ideas. However, as long as the dominant ideas and ideology are still multi-racial, they will prevail at this moment.

Thirdly, we come to the question of form. Do we need a certain percentage of non-Chinese leadership in order to say we are truly multi-racial? Or is the thinking and content more important?

Has Gerakan ever thought of implementing a race-based quota system for the party's leadership line-up?

A quota system is artificial. As far as we are concerned, we try to encourage a multi-racial line-up. However, presently, our leadership does not have many non-Chinese. Yet, we must remember our first president was a Malay.

Our party's policies are also non-racial. For example, we help Indians not because they are Indians but because they are humans and should not be marginalised. At the moment, we have a few programmes tailored for Indians with non-Indians heading it.

As human beings, we cannot run away from the fact that there are some cultural and social biases in our dealing with others. For example, many of us in Penang do not have many non-Chinese friends. We do bring in members according to our family, social or friendship ties. Like as the young tend to bring in young members so if my crowd or friends are Chinese, then I'll bring in more Chinese members.

Gerakan is known as the 'ruling dissident' in the Barisan Nasional coalition. Can you please comment on this?

We believe that one of our possible roles is to be the conscience of the BN. We speak our minds, we feel that certain views should prevail, we express ourselves and let the leadership handle it from there.

At least there is a check and balance. Our coalition partners may consider it worthwhile for them to reconsider our viewpoint or they may feel that it does not warrant a change of decision. So be it. We are not opposing for the sake of opposing. I must admit, it is not an easy role to play because some people may not be happy.

Gerakan leaders have been able to publicly voice their opinions on certain issues, for example, the Internal Security Act, the SJK (C) Damansara school controversy, mother tongue education, and so on.

We usually speak in our personal capacity and we call for quick action. Since we have discussed a lot of issues, we more or less know our party's stand. We also use the party's ideology to guide us. We are a multi-racial party and therefore we take a non-racial approach.

How is the relationship between Gerakan and MCA?

I would say that the relationship between us is cordial. Anyway, MCA has its hands full. The members have to settle their own problems and may have no time to give us problems, even in Penang. I guess they have to get their act together.

But the two parties are often seen at loggerheads with one another, especially in Penang after the last general elections.

I believe the point of contention here is the 'jewel in the crown' - the chief minister's post in Penang. MCA claims to be the second largest party, after Umno. They claim to have done better during the elections yet they enticed non-MCA elected representatives to join their party. Smaller parties like the Liberal Democratic Party in Sabah or the Sarawak United People's Party have access to their states' chief minister's post.

The other contention is that the quality of our victory is very different. We have won very hard battles. For example, why is the opposition party DAP always picking on Gerakan leaders and not MCA leaders? We fought in very tough constituencies to win, for example, at Bukit Bendera in Penang (DAP national chairperson Lim Kit Siang lost to Chia by 104 votes in the 1999 general elections). For that matter, if we survive we come out stronger. If we fall, too bad, but of course we can rise again. I suppose they (MCA) cannot accept the fact that they do not have a share of the power.

I suppose any party worth its salt would like to have more political power in order to manage the state in the interests of the people and development. The question is can they get a bigger support and do they have capable leaders to run the state? Finally, the people will be the judge.

MCA also attempted to gain power in the state by trying to kill us. To sabotage a component party, to use us as a scapegoat or to make us look like an opposition party in the Barisan Nasional is wrong. We must accept the decision of the people who have continued to support Gerakan. They (MCA) should work hard to win the people's heart rather than try to suppress another component party. We must rise above the level of our opponents or else the people would not be getting the best choice or leadership.

In Gerakan, we don't believe in suppressing others. We want the best as the people deserve the best, not the worst. This is Gerakan's philosophy. I think what we have been doing is attempting to promote good leadership in Penang.

But MCA managed to win all its seats in the last general elections. Isn't this an indication of its strength?

I suppose yes. MCA won 100 percent of their seats. That is why they probably misread the people's wishes and became arrogant. They think by winning all their seats in two general elections, people want them in the government. But let's not forget they also got zero seats once, that is in 1990 in Penang.

All I can say is that for any political party, it is wrong to play with fire or exploit issues. It doesn't help the coalition if they (MCA) are down and this doesn't necessarily mean that we (Gerakan) will be up, because we're all in the same boat.