KUALA LUMPUR: Gerakan will wait for Umno's decision on Bukit Bendera Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Ismail before taking the next course of action, said its acting president Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon.

Asked how he would continue leading his party in Penang since Gerakan has severed all ties with the state Umno after Ahmad's latest attack against him, Dr Koh said Gerakan would wait for further developments.

The Umno supreme council will hold a special meeting today to decide on Ahmad's fate after the Barisan Nasional component parties called for Ahmad to be dealt with for his remarks that the Chinese were merely "squatters", leading to a spat between Penang Umno and Gerakan and MCA.

"We will wait for the Umno supreme council's decision and evaluate the situation. This is not about one party but two sides," Dr Koh told reporters after the Barisan supreme council meeting yesterday.

He was asked the action deemed appropriate to be taken against Ahmad and what if Ahmad was merely suspended.

He said the component party leaders had suggested the type of action Umno should take but agreed to leave it to Umno to handle and decide.

"Our way has always been to refer disciplinary cases to the component party concerned to act on, and as the Prime Minister has said, stern and quick action will be meted out," he said.

To a question, he said it was not that Gerakan had no stand on how Ahmad should be dealt but that it was a well tested principle of Barisan "whereby we make certain suggestions but we don't want to announce them, instead respect the party concerned to decide."

He referred to the 2002 case of Penang MCA assemblymen Tan Cheng Liang and Lim Boo Chang who were suspended indefinitely after the Barisan supreme council decided that MCA should take action against them for not voting against an Opposition motion in the state assembly.

Dr Koh, however, said all the component parties, including Umno, had reached a deeper understanding and commitment that the incident should never be allowed to recur.

"All component leaders unanimously expressed their stand that Ahmad's remarks, statements and behaviour were utterly inappropriate," he said, adding that they, however, accepted the stand by Prime Minister and Barisan chairman Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, his deputy Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and other Umno leaders present that Ahmad's stand and approach did not reflect Umno and Barisan's policy.

On Ahmad's continued insistence that Dr Koh was to blame for the entire episode, Dr Koh said: "It is up to him but what was decided at this meeting is what is important."

On whether the Chinese community would be willing to accept the Barisan decision, he said Abdullah's reassuring statement should be taken positively.