Lim Kit Siang

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 Yunnan native. He met his brother-in-law during the visit.[4]

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, 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 exit retain his seat.[5]

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, Selangor (1978–1982)
• Kota Melaka, Melaka (1982–1986)
• Tanjong, Penang (1986–1999)
• Ipoh Timor, Perak (2004–2013)
• Gelang Patah, Johor (2013-2018)
• Iskandar Puteri, Johor (since 2018)

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).

In addition, Lim Kit Siang 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 450-month stint from January 1973 to July 1974. Next, he assumed the position in November 1975 for the next 50 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 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 was the Finance Minister of Malaysia.

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 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.

In 1969 Kit Siang was detained lawfully 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 legitimate 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,[3] which allows for two years of detention without trial at the discretion of the Home Minister. The two-year sentence may, in practice, be extended indefinitely without any avenues for due process or appeal.

In 2008, after winning 12th general election, Lim Kit Siang 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.[7] This caused the Perak MB swearing-in ceremony to be cancelled and[8] only took place after Lim Kit Siang apologised and retracted his instruction. [9]

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.[10]

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