Feedback on our Gerakan National Youth Delegates Conference

Posted: 04 Nov 2009 07:19 PM PST

2 days after the conclusion of our 2009 National Youth Delegates Conference in Kuala Lumpur, I received numerous feedback either through personal sms or emails from various quarters. Some of which were very painful to swallow and some were downright nonsensical. Some border on pure personal attacks and others were "self-jacking".

I have to sieved through the barrage of mixed signals but decide to publish one of them in the following reproduced piece. It is verbatim except for the name of the sender which I have deliberately left anonymous to protect his/her identity.

The background of this particular case is that, during the Youth Delegate Conference, we have mooted 10 resolutions for the Delegates to consider and if found appropriate accepted as our official stand for the year 2009.

8 of the proposed resolutions were accepted and passed unanimously. 1 was amended with regards to the length of office an Office Bearer can hold for each position within the Party. The 10th resolution was about reviewing our status in the Barisan Nasional and if found neccessary to leave BN within one year.

This particular resolution was 'hotly' debated but in the end it was rejected unanimously because it was found to be against the spirit of us remaining in the BN coalition.

However in my winding speech for the Conference, I drew the analogy of us (the Party) travelling in a car going at 110kmh and should not jump out of the window until and when the car comes to a halt upon reaching our destination.

The feedback in the form of an email is as follows:-

Dear Mr Lim,
Whatever the reasons for Gerakan Youth to reject the motion to leave BN (and since it is a closed door affair we will never know), the analogy you used is inappropriate.

You suggested that the passenger should only get out when the car reaches the destination. Fair enough; but you have not said what the destination is. What is the destination the BN car is heading to?

And what if the driver (in this case UMNO) has lost his bearings and is now heading to a destination not agreed on by the other passengers in the car?

What if the driver has somewhere along the journey decided that the destination agreed on by his fellow travellers is no longer where he wants to go?

What if the passengers fail to convince the driver he has taken a wrong turn or that he should stick to the agreed destination?

Would you then not jump out of the car in desperation rather than go to a place you have no wish to go?

After over thirty years of trying to "change BN from within" it is time Gerakan took desperate measures. The fact that it hasn't can be interpreted by the public as the following:

1. Gerakan has not the cojones to stand up openly to UMNO. This is a fair perception considering how many times UMNO has humiliated Gerakan and its leaders. This humiliation is not a recent thing – remember Gerakan and the other minor partners in BN sent a memo to the PM and almost immediately had to retract it when the PM showed his displeasure?
Remember Gerakan said nothing when Mahathir declared M'sia an Islamic State – when the Constitution clears states that we are a secular nation? We can go on ad nauseam about the issues Gerakan failed to stand up for but that would take volumes.

2. Gerakan leaders are too used to the perks of office and have no wish to remove their snouts from the gravy train.

3. Gerakan is not able to challenge UMNO on many issues when its leader depends on UMNO's generosity for positions. They have essentially been bought and paid for.

I won't go on. Suffice to say that it is rather disappointing that you seem to have lost the idealism often associated with the young. The old are jaded, tired and mostly resistant to change but then it seems that Gerakan Youth has grown old before its time.

If the young have lost their appetite for change, or are afraid to query conventional wisdom or challenge the status quo where is the future? I am not politically aligned to any party. I am just a Malaysian who despairs for the nation – the direction the BN Car is heading.

–End of the email–

This is a painful lesson that all Youth Leaders in Gerakan have to swallow and take heed. We, as perceived by this reader (and hence the public) have lost our direction and should review our stand and position.

I'm willing to listen and will look out for new ideas to rejuvenate our Youth. Do you, the readers, have anything else to add that may help us reach our chosen destination?