Gerakan secretary-general Datuk Seri Chia Kwang Chye believes there is a hidden agenda in Penang Umno Youth's call to rotate the chief minister's post and its claim that the Malays in the state have been marginalised.

He urged all parties concerned to treat the issues with tact to avoid getting "hurt" by the agenda, Sin Chew Daily reported yesterday.

Quoting a recent remark by party chief Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik, who likened Umno Youth's action to "ada udang di sebalik batu", Chia, who is deputy information minister, cautioned all those concerned against falling for it.

On Umno Youth deputy chief Khairy Jamaluddin's remark that the Chinese take advantage of a weakened Umno to make suqiu (appeals), Chia said: "Although we were angry (over the remark), we have opted to remain silent to avoid upsetting the political stability in the country."

Chia said although there are several federal government agencies helping to improve the lot of the Malays in the state, Penang Umno Youth still raised the two issues.

This could mean there are other factors involved, perhaps conflicts and other problems within the movement itself, he said.

To avoid getting drawn into such conflicts, "we should sit down and seek consensus in a mature way", Chia said when addressing the annual delegates' conference of the Federation of Hakka Associations of Malaysia in Penang on Sunday, on behalf of Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon, who is Gerakan deputy president.

He said with its population comprising mainly the three major races- Malays, Chinese and Indians- and a state government made up of Gerakan, Umno and MCA, Penang is a model state, development-wise and in terms of the handling of race issues.

He lamented that when Malaysians are abroad, they call themselves "Malaysians", but once they are back in Malaysia, they like to identify themselves according to their race or even dialect.

He said there is no denying that there are diversities among the various ethnic groups but they should emphasise their similarities to demonstrate their true patriotic and Merdeka spirit.