Finally, Gerakan stalwart Dr Tan Kee Kwong made his move.
He announced his intention to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat today, adding that he faxed his resignation letter from Gerakan to the party’s secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye yesterday morning.
Tan’s announcement did not come as a total surprise.
Gerakan had dropped him as a deputy minister after the 2004 general election when Tan, a former Segambut parliamentarian, was not selected as a candidate.
He was further sidelined in the party after he backed Kerk Choo Ting against then party president Dr Lim Keng Yaik in the Gerakan polls in 2006.In May this year, Tan accepted the appointment as co-chair of the Selangor Special Task Force on Land Issues from the PKR-led Selangor government.
By then, it became clear that he was searching for a new political platform.
At the press conference today, a jovial Tan said “there is no sadness in leaving Gerakan.”
“Instead, joining PKR gives me a bout of fresh air,” he told reporters in the presence of PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim and PKR information chief Tian Chua.
After 13 years of struggle with Gerakan and the BN, the former Federal Territory Gerakan chief, said he has lost faith in the BN government.
“I believe that race-based parties in BN like MIC, MCA and Umno are no longer relevant,” said Tan, adding that the political tsunami of March 8 has opened his eyes.
“I thought such a political tsunami would take another 50 years, but it happened overnight. This is a sign that Malaysians now want multi-racial politics, not the old race-based politics,” he said.
Tan, who was Segambut MP from 1995 to 2004, said he had been trying to change Gerakan from within but failed to do so.
“There are people who join BN and try to make a change. I can also say that I tried to make changes from within but I reached a point where it was almost impossible to do so,” he said.
Kee Kwong, 61, is the son of the highly respected former opposition leader Dr Tan Chee Khoon.
On Umno, the new PKR member claimed that the party no longer fights for the rights of ordinary people like it used to.
“Umno used to fight for fishermen, padi farmers and teachers but now it has become the towkay in BN and Umno leaders have turned arrogant,” Tan charged.
Taking another swipe at Umno, Tan said Umno was behaving like the ‘big brother’ expecting other BN components to ‘rubber-stamp’ all their decisions.
“We are just there to rubber stamp whatever they want to do. Enough is enough. Their corruption and mismanagement - the country is going to be broke if they are not stopped,” he lambasted.
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