Gerakan Penang Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon continues to maintain his silence over who will succeed him despite having revealed his party’s state candidates line-up yesterday.

From the list, party insiders say it is almost certain that senior state exco Dr Teng Hock Nan will succeed Koh and in turn will be succeeded by Gerakan rising star Lee Ka Choon in the future.

Both of them will contest Penang state seats - Teng to defend his Pulau Tikus seat while Lee moves from his Jelutong parliamentary seat to the Machang Bubuk state seat.

gerakan 2008 election candidates list 210208 posed But Koh - who is also the Gerakan acting president and who will contest the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat to move up to the federal administration - said the answer to who is the next Penang CM will be decided by voters.

"I think the people, by looking at the line-up, can see the potential chief minister," he told a press conference at the party office in Penang today after introducing Gerakan candidates to the media.

Koh said it was not a question of his reluctance or that he was delaying the announcement but ‘a question of strategy’.

"Even in playing chess, there must be elements of surprise to the enemy," he told reporters.

He was defensive when asked whether this ‘reluctance’ on his part would be unfair to voters who would not be able to make an informed decision when casting their votes.

"If need to, we will address that issue," he replied to a question, and appeared annoyed when a reporter asked repeatedly whether he meant there will be an announcement on the matter before the elections.

"Can you just quote what I say? No more and no less," he said to the reporter.

Earlier, Koh explained why he has chosen to contest in Batu Kawan over two other seats, Tanjung and Jelutong.

Although he had seriously consider going back to Tanjung as that was where he started his political career, Koh said if he did that, it would be "tactically incorrect"

"It would mean I would challenge an incumbent MP (DAP's Chow Kon Yeow) who may garner a lot of sympathy votes." he said.

Koh said he decided to contest in Batu Kawan eventually as the constituency is still under development and the local people are facing certain problems.

"I am going there not just an MP but also as a national leader," he added.

Mandarin ‘not good’

Among the 17 Gerakan candidates present at the press conference today was party's secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye who will defend his Bukit Bendera parliamentary seat.

Chia was earlier speculated to succeed Koh as CM but yesterday’s candidates list made him the first to be out of the race for the state’s top post.

Koh went on at length during the press conference to defend his decision in not placing Chia for a state seat, stressing that his decision did not mean Chia did not have the potential to be his successor.

"He has great potential to be chief minister," said Koh, adding that the latter’s contribution, however, was much needed at the national level.

gerakan 2008 election candidates list 210208 new faces Asked by reporters at the sidelines of the press conference, Chia said he was ‘calm’ after he was informed of the party’s decision though he could not hide his disappointment when pressed further.

"I was told that my (proficiency in) Chinese is not good enough [...] this issue was raised recently," said the English-educated politician, who is deputy information minister.

Chia and Lee are both new in the state’s administration but they have been seen as potential chief ministers mostly due to their performances at the federal level and their rapport with younger voters.

Lee is Health Ministry’s parliamentary secretary.

Teng, meanwhile, has had close to a three-decade experience in running the state’s affairs from being a Penang municipal councillor before being appointed as state exco for local government, traffic management, information and community relations.

Gerakan’s principle ‘betrayed’

Meanwhile, rival DAP is seeing red over this apparent plan to make 62-year-old Teng the next chief minister, describing it as a slap in the face for Penang BN in view of the latter’s election motto, ‘Reinventing’.

gerakan penang 220208 liew chin tong DAP’s Bukit Bendara candidate Liew Chin Tong ( right ) argued that Teng has failed in the eyes of many Penangites in carrying out his duties citing the example of the island’s traffic woes.

"There is a serious question as to whether this amounts to any reinventing. It goes against the Gerakan and BN state motto and it shows the party has just failed to reinvent," the political novice said at the launching of his election operations room this morning.

Arguing that Teng has overstayed, Liew quoted former outspoken Gerakan leader Dr Toh Kin Woon stand that three terms was enough for a politician to perform.

Liew also rapped Gerakan for its all-Chinese candidates list for the polls on March 8.

"When Gerakan was founded in 1968, it was to promote multi-racialism. They have betrayed their own founding principle," pointed out Liew.

Koh, when asked at his press conference later, said that Penang BN’s election motto of ‘Reinventing’ ‘did not necessarily’ have to reflect the choice of the next chief minister.