The country's youngest parliamentarian has broken her year-long silence. DAP's Fong Po Kuan confirmed that she will defend her Batu Gajah parliamentary seat in the upcoming general election.

The announcement was made by party chairperson Lim Kit Siang in Ipoh today after he launched the DAP Ipoh Timur election operations centre.

"She is undoubtedly the most impressive MP to speak up for the people in Parliament and has even been branded as ' cili padi ' (bird's eye chili) for her fiery debating skills," he said when contacted later.

Last February, Fong - who was 26 when elected in the 1999 polls - announced that she would not contest in this polls due to personal reasons. She later denied that her decision was due to certain internal issues in the party.

However, the DAP leader is expected to face some stiff competition in the form of MCA Perak chief and the party's national organising secretary Ong Ka Chuan.

"For sure this is an uphill battle for me, like all previous elections, the opposition does not start the election campaign on the same level-playing field," said Fong when contacted.

In the last election, the lawyer-cum-politician defeated incumbent MCA candidate Yeong Chee Wah with a majority of 2,071 votes.

Fong, 31, polled 19,867 votes to defeat Yeong, who garnered 17,796 votes, and the Malaysian Democratic Party's Yang Kar Ming, who obtained 186 votes.

Noted for her outspokenness, the MP was suspended from Parliament for six months without pay in December 2001 for criticising the Dewan Rakyat speaker for rejecting her urgent motion to debate the Certificate in Legal Practice (CLP) examination scandal.

Her contender Ka Chuan could not be reached for comment. He is reported to be vacating his state seat in Chenderiang to contest for the federal level this time around.

Ipoh Timur seat

In a related development, DAP Perak chief Ngeh Koo Ham said the party will contest the Ipoh Timur parliamentary seat but added that they were still uncertain about the candidate.

There have been speculation that party chief Lim may be contesting there.

"If our national chairperson is not contesting there, then I will contest," said Ngeh when contacted.

He said Lim had accepted DAP Perak's invitation to contest the seat but the veteran politician was also considering the proposals from other states.

Ngeh said if Lim wins the Ipoh Timur seat, it will have a significant impact on the party's 'No to Islamic State' campaign since Kinta Valley is a made up mostly of non-Malays.

He explained that the mandate given to Lim will send a clear message to the new leadership (Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's administration) that Malaysians were against the Islamic state.

DAP launched the campaign after the announcement by former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Malaysia was an Islamic state on Sept 29 2001.

In the same year, the party severed ties with the opposition front Barisan Alternatif (BA) after crossing swords with PAS over the latter's ambition to set up an Islamic state.

Three-cornered fight

Asked to comment on where he would stand, Lim continued to keep it a mystery, saying that he is seriously considering several criteria before deciding where to contest.

He also claimed that in the past, whenever he chose to opt for a different seat from the one he contested before, it was done to secure a better grade for the party and country.

"I have never left a seat and gone to a safer seat," he said when contacted.

The former parliamentary opposition leader contested in Bukit Bendera (Penang) parliamentary seat in the last election but lost to Gerakan secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye by a mere 104 votes. Lim obtained 24,176 votes compared to Chia's 24,280.

He also suffered a blow in the Kebun Bunga state seat when he was defeated by Dr Teng Hock Nan, who obtained 8,551 votes as opposed to Lim's 5,142

Asked on when the three-member committee - formed to decide on the party's candidates - would finalise the list, he avoided giving a concrete answer, saying: "We are going to meet".

The committee comprises Lim, deputy chairperson Karpal Singh and secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock.

Meanwhile, Keadilan Perak deputy chief Dr Lee Boon Chye is also eyeing the Ipoh Timur seat.

The Keadilan leader said he was willing to make way for Lim, but stressed that a three-cornered fight would be inevitable if any other opposition candidate contested there.

Elections will be held on March 21 with nominations on March 13.