KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan will propose an amendment to its constitution that will allow university students to join the party as members.
Its president Tan Sri Koh Tsu Koon said this followed the recent amendment of the University and University Colleges Act (UUCA).
"We will propose this at the upcoming party convention which will be held on Sept 29 and 30," said Koh after chairing a central committee meeting at the party headquarters on Saturday.
Dr Koh said the committee had also agreed to amend another clause that will enable the party to postpone its party elections date to a maximum of eight months after the end of a general election.
He said this was to prevent the party elections from clashing with the general election, which he said could be held at the end of this year or early next year.
Under the current constitution, the party is allowed to postpone its party elections to not more than 15 months of its scheduled date.
The party had already postponed its election to 15 months after the scheduled date of Dec 31, 2011, and the new date would have been in March 2012.
“We want the party members to focus on the general election first so we do not want the party elections to clash with it,” said Dr Koh, adding that the new provision will also apply for other party elections in the future.
He said it was decision made by the party itself and not based on any instruction from the Barisan Nasional leadership.
On an unrelated issue, Dr Koh said Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng's call for an anti-hopping law to be established in Penang to prevent lawmakers from “jumping” between parties was “contradictory” and “inconsistent”.
“He (Lim) did not protest when (Datuk Seri Panglima) Lajim Ukin and (Datuk Seri) Wilfred Bumburing left Barisan to join Pakatan Rakyat, or during the Sept 16 2008 incident where Barisan MPs were supposed' to join Pakatan. Why the double standards?”
“The first person he should have criticised is frog-maker' Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” said Dr Koh.
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