DAP chief Lim Kit Siang today strongly denied that he is considering contesting the Batu Gajah parliamentary seat in Perak, currently held by the party's youngest MP Fong Po Kuan.

"The idea... is utterly preposterous," stressed the veteran politician in a press statement. He was reacting to a malaysiakini 's article yesterday which suggested that he may contest the seat as it is deemed safe.

"Contesting Batu Gajah in the next elections has never entered my mind," he said, adding that the best candidate for the seat is still the incumbent Fong.

The veteran politician also praised the 30-year-old parliamentarian for having "acquitted herself most creditably as an MP...despite being unfairly and unjustly suspended from parliament".

(Fong was suspended in December 2001over the debate on the Certificate of Legal Practice (CLP) examination leak issue)

Maintain silence

Lim also said that he would maintain silence on the question of party candidatures for the general election, at least until a final decision has been made on the line-up.

"I do not wish to make any exception," he added.

Contacted later, Fong also avoided giving a concrete answer as to whether she would contest or not.

"Like I said last year, I will reconsider the call by party leaders to run again. If I have anything to add, I will be making a public announcement on the matter," said the parliamentarian.

Previously, Perak DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham commented that Lim's choices will be limited between seats in Perak and Penang, given that these would be DAP's frontline states in its 'No to Islamic state' campaign.

"Where (Lim) goes is secondary. The point is to get the message across and prevent the nation from walking down the Islamic state path," he had said.

However, with Penang being the home state of newly minted Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the going will be tough for DAP, thus making any venture there by Lim risky.

Unless one of the incumbent DAP MPs give way to Lim, the opposition leader will have to take on the more difficult task of wresting a seat from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.

'The tiger'

In past elections, Lim has ran in constituencies deemed as 'risky' and difficult to win, earning him the label of 'The Tiger'.

One of his biggest coup was in 1990 when he defeated then Penang chief minister Lim Chong Eu for the Padang Kota state seat.

His fortunes however tumbled at the next elections in 1995 following his loss to Gerakan candidate Dr Koh Tsu Koon - by a whopping majority of 7,703 - over the Tanjung Bungah state constituency.

Despite keeping his Tanjung parliamentary seat, Lim's loss to Koh nevertheless ended the party's ambitious Tanjung campaigns aimed at wresting control of Penang's chief ministership.

If Lim fails to win a seat in this electoral outing, it will most likely spell an end to his long political career.