In most cases, winning in an election is not an easy task if you are an opposition candidate.

You will surely lack the ‘3M’ - money, machinery and media - which are so necessary in an electoral contest and which is not lacking among Barisan Nasional candidates.

What more if one were to challenge a top BN leader in his own den.

dap koay teng hai DAP's Koay Teng Hai, 35, knows exactly what to expect when he answered the party's call to take on Gerakan vice-president Dr Teng Hock Nan, 62, in the Pulau Tikus state constituency.

Teng won the Pulau Tikus state seat, carved out from Kebun Bunga state constituency, in 2004. Prior to that, he was a three-term Kebun Bunga state assemblyperson since 1986.

Teng is a formidable opponent - he defeated DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang in Kebun Bunga in the 1999 election.

In 2004, he comfortably won Pulau Tikus when he brushed aside PKR’s Jason Ong Khan Lee by 6,106-vote majority.

Last-minute decision

Koay only decided to contest in Dr Teng's den early last Saturday morning, barely four hours before the Penang DAP announced their state line-up.

According to sources, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng, who is spearheading DAP electoral drive in Penang, had requested Koay to contest in Pulau Tikus because the party needed a young professional as the candidate."

"It's a tough and an uphill task. I'm the underdog," said Koay on his electoral chances.

In his electoral debut in 2004, Koay lost to Gerakan's Cheang Chee Gooi in the Air Itam state constituency.

teng hock nan It's an open secret that outgoing chief minister and Gerakan acting president Dr Koh Tsu Koon's has hand-picked Teng ( right ) to succeed him as Penang chief minister.

But firstly, the chief minister-designate will have to win his seat and secondly BN will have to return to power in Penang.

Observers are saying that BN should be returned to power and Teng would be installed as the state’s fourth chief minister.

However, nothing can be taken for granted in politics as balloting is still 10 days away.

"Even though I am the underdog, I still fancy my chances. He is just the chief minister-designate, not the chief minister," Koay added as a matter-of-fact.

Due to the 'notorious' split-vote mentality among certain segments of Chinese voters - one vote for BN and the other for the opposition - political observers believe Koay and Teng would lose some votes one way or the other.

In addition, the internal conflict in Gerakan due to the bitter tussle for the chief ministership between Teng, Gerakan secretary-general Chia Kwang Chye, 56, and Gerakan central committee member Lee Kah Choon, 48, would also cost Dr Teng some votes.

It has also been suggested that anti-Teng supporters in Gerakan may sabotage his march to succeed Koh.

"How much it will cost Teng remains to be seen," said an observer.

Chinese make up 77.1 per cent of Pulau Tikus' 16,723 registered voters. Malays are 12.5 per cent and Indians are 8.9 per cent in the constituency, which comes under Bukit Bendera parliamentary seat.

Although he has been greeted as the new chief minister by his constituents in his campaign trail, Teng is not being carried way with it.

"We have to first fight it out with the opposition first and win big. Until then, anything is possible," he told newsmen recently.

Between success and defeat

One could sense that Teng was quietly wooing voters to give him the chance to serve as Penang chief minister at least for one term.

A party insider said Koh has lined up Lee Kah Choon, previously a two-term parliamentarian in Jelutong constituency but now contesting in the Machang Bubok state seat, to succeed Teng after one term.

Koay, however, is not perturbed by Gerakan’s grand plan in Penang. He positively insists that nothing is impossible in electoral politics.

To him Pulau Tikus is the yardstick to measure the difference between success and defeat.

"If I were to win or lose by a slim margin, it means the DAP-PKR coalition has swept to power in Penang," he said.

For now, Dr Teng and company are favourite to secure victory.

But then anything can happen between now and March 8.

As the saying goes - one week is a long in politics, let alone 10 days.