Penang Umno Youth head Shaik Hussein Mydin has confirmed that he would not be contesting in the coming polls as he has a much more “exciting” task ahead of him.

But Shaik Hussein, who is also Bagan Youth chief,  said he was only refraining from contesting the 13th general election, but was certainly prepared for the next one.

The reason for this, he added, was that he felt “steamed” (excited) by the presence of Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and is planning to trail him everywhere during the coming political campaign.

NONE “If he speaks at a venue in the morning, I will go there after him and speak against him,” quipped Shaik Hussein.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has issued one of the strongest signals that election may be held in November, although some party leaders believe he would serve a full term until March next year.

Shaik Hussein said this while addressing about 300 Umno Youth delegates in Bayan Baru yesterday, before launching the division’s election machinery.

He was accompanied by several of his counterparts in BN, from Gerakan, MCA, MIC and the People’s Progressive Party.

‘I will follow him’

However, Shaik Hussein pointed out that he was not angry with Lim, and had even asked to shake hands with the CM earlier but the latter had declined at first, and did so only after he was surrounded by the press.

“I will follow him everywhere, I will go to his ceramahs. Every day, I spend three to four hours reading about Lim. I don’t care much about Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman, he has no courage ( bo hood ),” he said.

“I don’t read about Kelantan Menteri Besar and PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat, as he is already old. I am not impressed by opposition leader and Permatang Pauh MP Anwar Ibrahim, he only wants to be the prime minister,” he added.

Lim, said Shaik Hussein, dominated the politics of Pakatan Rakyat in Penang, to the extent that no one else could challenge or criticise him.

He added that Mansor was right in labelling Lim as “cocky and arrogant” , although the state PKR chief had denied doing so when he was quoted by an obscure blog which featured leaked minutes of a closed-door PKR meeting in March.

Driving his point further, Shaik Hussein said most press conferences held by the state government only featured Lim, who is also DAP secretary-general, and not the other state executive councillors.

Shaik Hussein’s close to one hour speech at the delegates meeting centred around Lim, where the Bagan MP was flayed all round for being “racist, for selling off state land” and for being responsible for the “growing division among the different races” in Penang.

Lim in turn has always blamed Umno for inciting racial sentiments, especially through the party-owned Malay language daily Utusan Malaysia , and had sued the paper and won twice.

On the issue of sale of state land, the current administration said it has conducted all its affairs via open tenders and have recently set up a committee to probe into cheap land sales by the previous BN government.

‘No easy win for Pakatan’

Nevertheless, Shaik Hussein warned that this time around, Lim would not be having it easy to “get Penang again”.

“If he can (retain Penang easily), this would only mean that we (in BN) are not united. If we quarrel with our friends, we will lose,” cautioned Shaik Hussein.

“This is the time to get back Penang. If we allow them to continue to rule, it would be difficult to wrest Penang back from them because they would have already planted their roots here,” he added.

Shaik Hussein, an engineer by profession, said if Pakatan can maintain its 29 seats - as they did in 2008 - he was willing to resign from his post as state Umno Youth chief.

However, if the party fails to retain the same number of seats, Shaik Hussein threw Lim a  challenge - “resign and give your CM post to a local Chinese leader”.

Shaik Hussein was referring to Chow Kon Yeow. However, it is learnt that the state DAP chief, who is Tanjung MP, is also not Penang-born.