Penang Gerakan State Executive Councillor Teng Chang Yeow is maybe suffering from election exhaustion heat.

Today we see another outburst from this hot-blooded young politician.

At Gerakan Tanjong Election Steering Taskforce meeting, Teng hit out at Lim Kit Siang out of the blue.

He asked his Tanjong members not to be a political escapee like Kit Siang when facing challenges.

Teng said Kit Siang ran away from Penang after the defeat of Tanjong 3.

I think Teng is muddled with historical fact. Kit Siang did not run away from Tanjong in the 1999 general election because the seat has become unsafe for him to retain.

In fact he vacated the safe Tanjong seat for me to contest and he went over to a much more difficult seat in Bukit Bendera, held by Chia Kwang Chye. He would have easily retained the Tanjong seat in 1999 and history could have been taken a different course. Kit Siang chose to contest in Ipoh Timor to propel better results for the party in Kinta Valley.

Although Kit Siang had moved around several constituencies, he had never “escape” to a safer seat. On the contrary, he moved to more difficult seats to help win extra seats for the party.

Teng’s attack against Kit Siang did not go down well with a particular writer. The journalist said the biggest obstacle for Gerakan to win back the Tanjong seat is because all the candidates who lost in Tanjong did not return to serve or contest in the same constituency.

Tsu Koon (1986), Boey Weng Keat (1990), Oh Keng Seng (1995), and Cheang Chee Gooi (1999) all left for greener pasture and Mark Ooi Swee Hin (2004) is not expected to contest again in Tanjong.

So who is the political escapee?