Lim Kit Siang

Yang Berhormat Tuan Lim Kit Siang MP
林吉祥
Leader of the Opposition of Malaysia
In office 21 March 2004 – 8 March 2008
Monarch	Sirajuddin Mizan Zainal Abidin
Prime Minister	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Preceded by	Abdul Hadi Awang
Succeeded by	Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
Constituency	Ipoh Timor
In office 5 November 1975 – 29 November 1999
Monarch	Abdul Halim Yahya Petra Ahmad Shah Iskandar Azlan Shah Jaafar Salahuddin
Prime Minister	Abdul Razak Hussein Hussein Onn Mahathir Mohamad
Preceded by	Edmund Langgu Saga
Succeeded by	Fadzil Noor
Constituency	Kota Melaka (1975–1978, 1982–1986) Petaling (1978–1982) Tanjong (1986–1999)
In office 17 April 1973 – 24 August 1974
Monarch	Abdul Halim
Prime Minister	Abdul Razak Hussein
Preceded by	Mohamed Asri Muda
Succeeded by	James Wong
Constituency	Bandar Malacca
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Gelang Patah, Johor
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 May 2013
Preceded by	Tan Ah Eng
Majority	14,762 (2013)
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Ipoh Timor, Perak
In office 21 March 2004 – 5 May 2013
Preceded by	Thong Fah Chong
Succeeded by	Thomas Su Keong Siong
Majority	9,774 (2004) 21,942 (2008)
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Tanjong, Penang
In office 1986–1999
Preceded by	Koh Tsu Koon
Succeeded by	Chow Kon Yeow
Majority	11,690 (1986) 17,469 (1990) 6,895 (1995)
Member of the Penang State Assembly for Padang Kota
In office 1990–1995
Preceded by	Lim Chong Eu
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Majority	706
Member of the Penang State Assembly for Kampong Kolam
In office 1986–1990
Preceded by	Wong Hoong Keat
Succeeded by	Cheah Teik Hoe
Majority	3,689
2nd National Chairman of the Democratic Action Party
In office 1999–2004
Preceded by	Chen Man Hin
Succeeded by	Karpal Singh
Personal details
Born	(1941-02-20) 20 February 1941 Batu Pahat, Johor, British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Political party	Democratic Action Party – PR
Spouse(s)	Neo Yoke Tee (梁玉治)
Children	Lim Guan Eng Lim Hui Ming Lim Hui Ying Lim Guan Choon
Website	limkitsiang.com

This article is part of a series about Lim Kit Siang

Leader of the Opposition Democratic Action Party Operation Lalang Internal Security Act 1960 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis Civil rights 2007 Bersih rally Bersih 2.0 rally Bersih 3.0 rally People's Uprising rally, 2013 Bersih 4 rally Malaysian Citizens' Declaration Political alliances Pakatan Rakyat Pakatan Harapan General Elections 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1995 2004 Family Lim Guan Eng (son) Betty Chew (daughter-in-law)

Lim Kit Siang (born 20 February 1941; Chinese: 林吉祥; pinyin: Lín Jíxiáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Kit-siâng) is a Malaysian politician and party leader. He is prominent leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the largest multiracial opposition party in Malaysia. He is the father of current Chief Minister in the State of Penang, Lim Guan Eng.

Lim was called to the English bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1977. He is married with four children. Since 1978, he has published 34 books.^[1]

Personal

Lim was educated from Lincoln's Inn in 1977. He is married with four children. Since 1978, he has authored 34 books.^[1] His son Lim Guan Eng is the current Chief Minister of Penang.

Ancestry

Lim Kit Siang together with his son Lim Guan Eng first visited his ancestral home in China in Nov 2008 (reported in Chinapress). His ancestral village is located in Zhangzhou, Fujian province which makes him a Minnan native. He met his 80 something years old brother-in-law during the visit.^[2]

Timeline

Political career

Member of Parliament

Lim first emerged as a politician when he was National Organising Secretary of the DAP from 1966 to 1969. At the same time he was also entrusted to edit the party's newspaper, the Rocket. The course of the political landscape changed when he was promoted to Secretary-General in 1969 after being acting Secretary-General for a short period during a turbulent period in the country's history. He considers himself a democratic socialist and is also a supporter of social democracy.

Lim was first elected as an MP for the Bandar Melaka seat in 1969. His election was initially held to be void, however, because the law prohibited an election agent who had previously failed to discharge his duties from standing for election in the future. The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak, moved a motion in Parliament to prevent Lim from serving as an MP, granting him instead a period of time to request a royal pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King). After receiving the royal pardon, Lim was allowed to retain his seat.^[3]

Apart from 1999 to 2004, during which time he lost his seat due to the Chinese disenchantment with DAP entering into a political pact with the Islamist PAS for the general elections, Lim represented various constituencies in five states:

• Bandar Melaka (1969–1974)
• Kota Melaka (1974–1978)
• Petaling, Selangor (1978–1982)
• Kota Melaka (1982–1986)
• Tanjong, Penang (1986–1999)
• Ipoh Timor, Perak (2004–2013)
• Gelang Patah, Johor (since 2013)

He also served as a state assemblyman in Melaka and Penang during the following periods: Kubu, Melaka (1974–1982); Kampong Kolam, Penang (1986–1990); and Padang Kota, Penang (1990–1995).

He led the party in the capacity of Secretary-General until 1999 when he was elected party chairman, succeeding Chen Man Hin. In 2004, he refused re-appointment as the chairman and Karpal Singh was elected to replace him. Lim was then elected to an advisory role as the leader of a newly created body called the "Policy and Strategic Planning Commission". His son, Lim Guan Eng, is currently the Secretary-General of the party and the Chief Minister of Penang.

After winning a parliamentary seat from Ipoh Timor during the 2004 general election, which also saw his party clinching the most seats of any opposition party, Lim became the Parliamentary Opposition Leader. In recent years the opposition have been campaigning for freer and fairer elections within Malaysia. On 10 November 2007, a mass rally, called the BERSIH Peaceful People's Gathering, took place in the Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur at 3pm to demand for clean and fair elections. The gathering was organised by BERSIH, a coalition comprising political parties and civil society groups, and drew supporters from all over the country.

In the March 2008 general election, he was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor with a majority of 21,942 votes.

Lim contested and won in Gelang Patah against Barisan Nasional's heavyweight and former Menteri Besar of Johor Datuk Abdul Ghani in the 2013 general election. He called this election the "dirtiest ever GE in Malaysian history" and has called for a "clean" election.

Detention without trial

In 1969 Kit Siang was detained under the Internal Security Act for 18 months. Ten years later, in 1979, he was convicted of five charges under Official Secrets Act for exposing an inappropriate arms deal between the government and a Swiss company.

Lim was one of the people arrested during "Operation Lalang" in 1987. He spent 17 months in prison under the Internal Security Act,^[1] which allows for two years of detention without trial at the pleasure of the Home Minister. The two-year sentence may, in practice, be extended indefinitely without any avenues for due process or appeal.

Controversy

Lim is a controversial figure for his strongly held views about Malaysian politics; some, such as Malay Malaysian writer Bakri Musa, have labelled him and fellow DAP leader Karpal Singh as racial provocateurs.^[4]

In 2008, after winning 12th general election, Lim Kit Siang issued an instruction for all DAP representatives to stay away from the swearing-in ceremony for Perak Menteri Besar, claiming that there is no DAP CEC mandate for PAS Menteri Besar in Perak.^[5] This caused the Perak MB swearing-in ceremony to be cancelled and^[6] only take place after Lim Kit Siang apologised and retracted his instruction.^[7]

Samy Vellu and the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal

In 1992, Lim Kit Siang was suspended from Parliament for eight months for calling on the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to present a White Paper in Parliament on the outcome of ACA re-opening of investigations into the MIC President and the Minister for Energy, Posts and Telecommunications, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and the MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal.^[8]

Election results

Books published

Notes and references

1. 1 2 3 Lim Kit Siang: Biodata
2. ↑ (Chinese) 與家人福建尋根‧冠英“還鄉”百感交集, 2008-11-26, Sin Chew Jit Poh
3. ↑ Rahman, Rashid A. (1994). The Conduct of Elections in Malaysia, pp. 204–205. Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing. ISBN 967-969-331-7.
4. ↑ Musa, M. Bakri (2007). Towards A Competitive Malaysia. Petaling Jaya: Strategic Information and Research Development Centre. p. 79. ISBN 978-983-3782-20-8. 
5. ↑ No DAP CEC mandate for PAS Menteri Besar in Perak.
6. ↑ http://thestar.com.my/election/story.asp?file=/2008/3/13/election2008/20080313171328&sec=Election2008 Perak MB swearing-in ceremony cancelled (updated)
7. ↑ Swearing-in of Perak MB Tomorrow
8. ↑ MAIKA Telekom shares hijacking scandal

Other references

• Pillai, M.G.G. (1 November 2005). "Did Lee Kuan Yew want Singapore ejected from Malaysia?". Malaysia Today.

External links

• Official website
• Official Website for DAP Malaysia