Dr.Toh Kim Woon of Gerakan endorses Anwar...........

At a time when most of the BN top brass are expressing great confidence in winning the Permatang Pauh by-election, one top level Gerakan leader today risked party and BN irk by giving his stamp of approval for PKR’s Anwar Ibrahim.

That support came from Gerakan’s Penang-based leader Dr Toh Kin Woon, an outspoken former state executive councillor when Penang was ruled by Gerakan-led BN before the March general election.

Toh not just expressed his support for Anwar, he also visited a PKR election operation room in Permatang Pasir, one of three state constituencies in Permatang Pauh, this evening.

Accompanied by a friend, Toh was welcomed to the operation room by several top level Pakatan Rakyat leaders, including Penang deputy chief minister Mohammad Fairus Khairuddin, Penang exco Law Choo Kiang, PKR vice-president Dr Lee Boon Chye and information chief Tian Chua. Anwar was however not present.

A banner stating ‘let us reform Malaysia together’ was also placed at the room during Toh’s brief visit.

When met later, Toh said his visit was to show his support for Anwar in the by-election.

“I am not speaking for my party, I am speaking for myself as an individual - I do support Anwar Ibrahim in this by-election. I am not actually supporting him too much as an individual but more on the movement that he leads.

“I feel if Anwar (is elected to) Parliament, the voices of the opposition will be stronger and the chances of strengthening the democracy and widening the democratic space will be better.For these reason, I support him,” said the academician-
turned-politician.

source & graphics : malaysiakini

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On Anwar’s charisma,this what Dr.Toh Kim Woon expressed recently, "To all these must be added the charisma of Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, the de facto leader of the combined Opposition. Wherever he went, he charmed thousands with his oratorical skills. His consistency in calling for the abolition of the New Economic Policy won a lot of support from among the non-Malays, without at the same time alienating the Malays. Overall, the election machinery of all the opposition parties was run efficiently and smoothly. While this machinery was operating at full gear shortly after nomination day, the BN was still bogged down with internal feuds over candidacies and positions."

Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia,a major component party of BN must be devastated with Dr.Toh Kim Woon move. It lost a few good leaders in recent time. In the recent election, the party did badly.It achieved a lowly 16 per cent success rate in parliamentary elections. But more devastating was the total annihilation of the party in both state and parliamentary elections in Penang, the party’s power base, where it lost in all seats contested. Wonder what Dr.Lim Kheng Yaik got to say......

Dr.Toh Kin Woon was a former Associate Professor of Economics at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and former Penang State Executive Councillor. He is presently Executive Chairman of the Socioeconomic and Environmental Research Institute (Seri) and Advisor to the Institute of Training and Development in Penang.

Read here and here. Barely a day after expressing his support for Anwar in the Permatang Pauh by-election, Dr Toh Kin Woon has resigned from his party,to focus on NGO work.




cheers.