Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a
Malaysian
Malaysian may refer to:
* Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia
* Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia
* Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...
politician
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. He is the longest-serving leader of the opposition in Malaysia, having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions. He is also former Secretary-General and National Chairman of the
Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left social democracy, social democratic political party in Malaysia. ...
(DAP), which is a component party of the
Pakatan Harapan
The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...
opposition coalition.
Early life
Lim was born in
Batu Pahat
The Batu Pahat District is a district in the state of Johor, Malaysia. It lies southeast of Muar, southwest of Kluang, northwest of Pontian, south of Segamat and Tangkak District. The capital of the district is Bandar Penggaram.
Geography
...
,
Johor
Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan ...
,
British Malaya
The term "British Malaya" (; ms, Tanah Melayu British) loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British hegemony or control between the late 18th and the mid-20th century. U ...
on 20 February 1941.
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 period.
Lim was first elected as an MP for the Bandar Malacca seat in 1969. His election was initially held to be void, however, because the ineligibility, an election agent who had previously failed to discharge his duties from standing for election in the future. The
Prime Minister of Malaysia
The prime minister of Malaysia ( ms, Perdana Menteri Malaysia; ms, ڤردان منتري مليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is the head of government of Malaysia. The prime minister directs the executive branch of the fede ...
,
Tun Abdul Razak
Tun Haji Abdul Razak bin Dato' Hussein ( ms, عبد الرزاق بن حسين, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; 11 March 1922 – 14 January 1976) was a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia f ...
, 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
The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (, Jawi: ), also known as the Supreme Head of the Federation, the Paramount Ruler or simply as the Agong, and unofficially as the King of Malaysia, is the constitutional monarch and head of state of Malaysia. The of ...
(King). After receiving the royal pardon, Lim was allowed to exit retain his seat.
[Rahman, Rashid A. (1994). ''The Conduct of Elections in Malaysia'', pp. 204–205. Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing. .]
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, Melaka (1969–1974)
*
Kota Melaka, Melaka (1974–1978)
*
Petaling
The Petaling District is a district located in the heart of Selangor in Malaysia. Petaling is not to be confused with the city of Petaling Jaya located in it, nor the '' mukim'' of Petaling under Petaling Jaya City. The district office is locate ...
, Selangor (1978–1982)
*
Kota Melaka, Melaka (1982–1986)
*
Tanjong
Tanjong Public Limited Company is a Malaysian powere generation, entertainment, and real estate conglomerate. It was founded as Tanjong Tin Dredging Ltd on 2 January 1926 in England. The company subsequently changed its name to Tanjong PLC in 1 ...
, Penang (1986–1999)
*
Ipoh Timor, Perak (2004–2013)
*
Gelang Patah
Gelang Patah is a suburb in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia. It was administered by ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional for over 5 decades until the 13th Malaysian General Elections.
One of its schools, Sekolah Menengah K ...
, Johor (2013-2018)
*
Iskandar Puteri
Iskandar Puteri is a Cities of Malaysia, city which functions as the administrative capital of the state of Johor, Malaysia (Kota Iskandar) and represents the seat of government of the state of Johor (Menteri Besar of Johor, Executive branch & ...
, Johor (since 2018)
He also served as a state assemblyman in
Melaka
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has bee ...
and
Penang
Penang ( ms, Pulau Pinang, is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay ...
during the following periods: Kubu, Melaka (1974–1982); Kampong Kolam, Penang (1986–1990); and Padang Kota, Penang (1990–1995).
In addition, Lim has also served as the
Opposition Leader of Malaysia three times over a span of 50 years. He was first elected Opposition Leader for an 18 month stint from January 1973 to July 1974. Next, he assumed the position in November 1975 for the next 24 years before he lost his parliamentary seat in the
1999 general elections. He served in the post once more for a four-year stint following the
2004 general elections until 2008.
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
Dato' Seri Utama Karpal Singh s/o Ram Singh Deo ( pa, ਕਰਪਾਲ ਸਿੰਘ, Karpāl Siṅgh; 28 June 1940 – 17 April 2014) was an Indian Malaysian politician and lawyer. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bu ...
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
Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan, Member of the ...
, is currently the Secretary-General of the party and was the
Finance Minister of Malaysia
Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fin ...
.
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.
Lim contested and won in Gelang Patah against Barisan Nasional's heavyweight and former
Menteri Besar of Johor
The Menteri Besar of Johor or Chief Minister of Johor is the head of government in the Malaysian state of Johor. According to convention, the Menteri Besar is the leader of the majority party or largest coalition party of the Johor State Legislat ...
Abdul Ghani Othman
Abdul Ghani bin Othman ( Jawi: عبدالغاني بن عثمان; born 14 November 1946) served as the 14th Menteri Besar of Johor in Malaysia from 1995 to 2013. He is a member of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), a component par ...
in the
2013 general election.
Detention without trial
In 1969, Lim was detained lawfully under the
Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to:
* Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law
*Internal Security Act (Singapore)
* McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law
*Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, rename ...
for 18 months. Ten years later, in 1979, he was convicted of five charges under Official Secrets Act for exposing an legitimate arms deal between the government and a Swiss company.
Retirement
On 20 March 2022, on the 17th
DAP
DAP or Dap may refer to:
Science
* DAP (gene), human gene that encodes death-associated proteins, which mediate programmed cell death
* Diamidophosphate, phosphorylating compound
* Diaminopimelic acid, amino acid derivative of lysine
* Diamin ...
National Congress, Lim announced his retirement and that he will not be contesting in the Central Executive Committee and the following general and state elections, citing old age. The Secretary-general of DAP,
Anthony Loke
Anthony Loke Siew Fook (; born 28 April 1977) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Transport for the second term in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since December 2022 and the ...
had originally intended to appoint him as the mentor of the party. However, Lim declined the offer.
Controversy
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 issued an instruction for all DAP representatives to boycott from the swearing-in ceremony for Perak Menteri Besar, claiming that there was no DAP mandate for PAS Menteri Besar in Perak. This caused the Perak MB swearing-in ceremony to be cancelled and only took place after Lim apologised and retracted his instruction.
Swearing-in of Perak MB Tomorrow
Personal life
He is married with 4 children.
/ref> He is the father of Lim Guan Eng
Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan, Member of the ...
, currently National Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), and formerly served as Minister of Finance in the PH administration under former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020, and 4th Chief Minister of Penang from March 2008 to May 2018. Lim's daughter Lim Hui Ying is currently the MP of Tanjong
Tanjong Public Limited Company is a Malaysian powere generation, entertainment, and real estate conglomerate. It was founded as Tanjong Tin Dredging Ltd on 2 January 1926 in England. The company subsequently changed its name to Tanjong PLC in 1 ...
, deputy Minister of Education, and formerly served as a senator.
Election results
Timeline
Books
Notes and references
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
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Kit Siang
1941 births
Living people
People from Batu Pahat
People from Johor
Malaysian people of Hokkien descent
Malaysian people of Chinese descent
Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent
20th-century Malaysian lawyers
Recipients of Malaysian royal pardons
Asian democratic socialists
Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians
Malaysian Leaders of the Opposition
Members of the Dewan Rakyat
Members of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly
Members of the Penang State Legislative Assembly
Members of Lincoln's Inn
21st-century Malaysian politicians