8 years after leaving BN, Gerakan has come full circle with almost nothing to show for
FRESH from a devastating electoral defeat in 2018, Gerakan walked out of Barisan Nasional (BN) with much fanfare.
It felt that the coalition had lost its way and promised to re-build itself as an “independent” force. But in 2021, the Chinese-majority party joined the PAS-dominated Perikatan Nasional (PN).
Now, with the posturing from its PN allies like PAS, Gerakan seems to be one step away from being back in the BN orbit – but in a much worse position than when it had stormed out of the coalition.
This is all attributed to the machinations of Gerakan’s big brother in PN, PAS, which seems to be cozying up to UMNO-led BN as part of its “Malay Unity” agenda, especially in the run-up to the Johor state polls on July 11.
In fact, PN is contesting in only 33 of the 56 seats in the Johor assembly when the coalition had stood in all of them in the 2022 state polls.
To make matters worse, Gerakan is not fielding any candidates for the polls this time around although it stood in eight seats four years ago.
PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man has even openly asked its supporters to back BN in seats where the coalition faces Pakatan Harapan (PH) in straight fights.
By sitting out of the polls, Gerakan has not just paved the way for a BN-PH straight fight. It has also averted a split in Malay votes and boosted chances of BN candidates given the community’s general disdain for PH, especially the DAP.
Taken together, these developments point to a strategy that is likely to make BN the main beneficiary after the last ballot paper is counted on July 11.
The truth is, Gerakan is now a pale shadow of what it once was. It has spent the better part of the last eight years becoming increasingly irrelevant compared with its heydays when it ruled Penang.
Its biggest “achievement” since leaving BN is one state assembly seat in Kedah – the Kulim state seat by the party’s secretary-general Wong Chia Zhen – which was won under the PN banner and followed by an EXCO appointment in a PAS-led state government.
It was less a testament to Gerakan’s political revival than to PAS’ willingness to carve out a seat for its junior partner.
Beyond that, Gerakan has struggled to justify why it exists as a separate political party. The party’s decline has been symbolised by its president Datuk Dominic Lau Hoe Chai.
His ill-fated contest in Penang in 2023 where even PAS grassroots openly rejected him, exposed Gerakan’s lack of standing within its own coalition.
It was difficult to escape the impression that Gerakan had become little more than a passenger riding on the strength of more senior partners.
Now with the latest political developments, the party, sometimes lampooned as “Gelakan” (“a joke” in Malay), seems to be back where it started.
Only this time, it returns with neither influence nor bargaining power, only massive loss in public goodwill and a president with a tail between his legs. – Jonathan Liew, FocusM June 30, 2026
