In 1982, Teoh, together with former Penang DAP secretary Gooi Hock Seng and the late founder member Peter Paul Dason, hatched “Project 82” – a move that saw the party bring its stalwart Lim Kit Siang in from Selangor to help capture the state.
The trio realised that, if DAP harboured hopes of ousting the Gerakan-led Barisan Nasional state government headed by the giant Lim Chong Eu, the party needed a strong leader as its candidate for the post of chief minister.
“Teoh was instrumental in our plans to convince Kit Siang and the national leadership that this move was crucial for Project 82 to succeed. He was the state’s organising secretary, the conduit to reach members at all levels.
“He had exceptional organisational skills, especially in making the grassroots understand why the party had to parachute Kit Siang into Penang. There were no leaders in Penang with the stature to be named CM-candidate. It was not an easy job, mind you,” Gooi told FMT when paying tribute to Teoh.
Teoh, 77, died in Perth, Australia on Sunday, after a long battle with liver cancer. He had been living there with his children for several years.
Gooi, who joined the party together with Teoh in the early 1970s, said their ambition for DAP to take over the state was no secret. Kit Siang agreed after they convinced him that he was the only one who could take Chong Eu on.
“I remember Teik Huat as a man full of humility and someone undaunted by the lofty aim of forming the Penang state government. He was personally on the ground, tirelessly helping Kit Siang to familiarise himself with Penang.
“Project 82 morphed into the Battle of Tanjong 1 in the 1986 general election, which saw DAP garner a record 10 seats in the Penang state assembly.
“Teik Huat was elected Bagan MP and Pengkalan Kota assemblyman. Kit Siang won the Tanjong parliamentary seat and the Kampong Kolam state constituency,” he said.
Buoyed by the success of Project 82 in 1986, Gooi said Teik Huat was again at the forefront with Kit Siang and him in the 1990 elections when DAP won a record 14 seats in Penang, three short of forming the government.
However, the pendulum swung to the opposite side in 1995 when DAP was nearly annihilated, winning only one seat. A dejected Teik Huat together with Gooi then took a back seat and stayed out of the 1999 general election.
Teik Huat’s journey with DAP came to an end when Gooi and he both quit the party in 2001.
DAP had decided to break away from the Barisan Alternatif, a coalition of opposition parties, after the party’s leaders and members blamed its association with PAS for its poor performance at the polls two years earlier.
“But Teik Huat and I believed that it was important to have a combined opposition with differing ideologies. That’s the only way forward for Malaysia. So, we joined PKR,” he said.
Gooi hopes the current set of leaders remember the sacrifices of leaders like Teoh.
They are the ones who laid the foundations for where DAP is now in Penang, having led the state government for four consecutive terms, he said.