He was about to be given a "show cause" letter by the Gerakan central working committee when he pre-empted the move by withdrawing totally from Gerakan. He is not even a party member now. But until the day he resigned, he received a lot of flak from prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, deputy prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, former Gerakan president Lim Keng Yaik and even acting Gerakan president Dr Koh Tsu Koon. All of them criticised Lee.
In particular, Najib was quoted as saying that members of Barisan Nasional component parties should not work for the opposition. “I want to see Gerakan’s position on this matter,” Najib said. "In principle, members of BN component parties should not be encouraged to serve opposition-led state governments."
I am flabbergasted by the open pettiness still shown by the BN. On 21 Apr 2008, I had left a comment in Nat Tan's blog: "When can our politicians from different parties and ideologies ever learn to close ranks and work together after an election? It’s still a sign of our political immaturity that our politicians in the BN cannot accept this."
But I liked what Lim Guan Eng said to the Press yesterday:
"The response towards the Penang state government's approach to governance has been looked at purely from a political angle. The time has come for us to look at it from a new national perspective, approaching governance based on competence, accountability and transparency (CAT). We welcome all Penangites as well as those who we feel share this philosophy regardless of race, religion or political affiliation. It is unfortunate that we still consider race, religion and political affiliation, and I think the pressures that have been exerted and applied (on the Penang government) does not allow us to break out of the mold, that if you are of a certain race, a certain religion or if you come from a certain political party, you are automatically disqualified from being considered for certain positions as well as certain fields and areas. We must break out of this mold.
"Is this an opinion shared by the people? Are we going to grow out and grow up from an outdated mindset? The time has come to look at the content of character rather than colour of skin or the gods you pray to or the respective political beliefs that you hold. As long as you share with the Penang government the principles of CAT- competency in a government that can deliver, accountability in line with democratic principles and transparency - I think we can consider giving everyone a role to play and participate. If we have the confidence they can serve, we will appoint them. If they feel they don't want to take on the pressure they have a right not to continue and we respect their wishes and we will not condemn them.
"The time has come to look more at the content of your character, provided it does not clash with the principles of CAT. I think it is important that we seek a new direction and forge a new political paradigm. Let us govern based on good sense and sound reasoning. We take the leading role in Penang, and we are the partner in power in Perak and Selangor, and we hope that this can be extended to other states, giving hope to Malaysians who want to see the principles of CAT, and are not concerned about race, religion or political affiliation.
"I was hopeful that the leaders of the other political parties could respond (positively) to this gesture, but the fact that it was looked at with such an unexpectedly strong negative response shows that perhaps we have still not yet reached that level required. But I think the people of Malaysia expect us to attain a certain level of maturity, like what is happening in the West, that despite your political beliefs, you can still be appointed to posts in government."
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