The combination of the statements of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) Chairman Muhyiddin Yassin and the Gerakan President Dominic Lau in the last two days poses the question whether Dominic Lau will be PN’s nominee for the Chief Minister of Penang in the forthcoming Penang state polls.
This question evokes three further questions:
- whether Dominic Lau as the PN Chief Minister-designate has got the agreement of Penang Gerakan and in particular the Penang Gerakan Chairman Oh Tong Keong;
- will Gerakan will get the most number of State Assembly seats in Penang in Perikatan Nasional to contest in the forthcoming Penang general election or will the Gerakan leaders will be at the beck-and-call of both PAS and Bersatu leaders; and
- whether Dominic Lau will win a seat in the Penang State Assembly and whether he will be able to retain his deposit.
There is another question that Dominic Lau can answer:
Does he want the people of Penang to choose whether to be pig herders or cow herders, and whether he is prepared to openly tell the PAS President, Hadi Awang why he is wrong.
Can PN and Gerakan answer these questions?
I don’t think so.
The most important question is whether the Penang voters are prepared to do both a national and state service by coming out in bigger numbers in the Penang state polls than in the 15th national general election on Nov. 19, 2022 to vote for Malaysia and Penang to become world champions again and to be a role model of the world for inter-ethnic, inter-religious, inter-cultural and inter-civilisational dialogue, understanding, tolerance and harmony.