JOURNALISTS will know that 80-year-old Lim Kit Siang is not an easy person to interview when asked about himself. 

While he is able to churn out statements like a cyclostyle machine and speak for hours on politics, Kit, as he is known to friends and followers, often clams up when the spotlight is on him.  

It is therefore unsurprising that so little in the way of personal matters is written about the Johor-born politician who has served DAP since 1965. 

There are glimpses, however, into what makes Lim the man and politician he is, in the “not so typical” biography titled Lim Kit Siang – Patriot, Leader, Fighter, written by Senator Liew Chin Tong. The book, to be launched next month, traces Lim’s 55 years in politics.

Its value in the present time may be to counter the perception generated by DAP detractors of an extremist and Chinese chauvinist party. 

Liew’s account of his former boss uses a combination of interviews with friends and family, old speeches and Liew’s own experiences following his mentor around. 

“This book sets out to weave historic events of the past 55 years chronologically with rarely told stories and my personal experiences with Kit to showcase his impact on the nation,” Liew wrote. 

And with that preamble, he takes the reader through a five-decade journey with Lim as the driving force behind DAP from the 1960s till 2020. 

Arranged in 10 chapters, Liew kicks off with the veteran’s entry into politics as the political secretary of then party secretary-general Devan Nair in December 1965. 

In the first chapter, Lim is seen as a young man inspired by post-colonial events, a man dedicated to raising four children in the 1960s and a simple stoic English-educated man morphing from journalist to union representative before finally becoming a politician.  

And from there, Liew journals Lim’s rollercoaster journey into politics from first becoming an MP in Kota Melaka in 1969, to Internal Security Act detentions in 1969 and 1987, before forging the Pakatan Harapan alliance in 2017 to end Barisan Nasional’s 61-year rule. 

While chapters 7 to 9, which detail some of the ideas behind the forging of a grand opposition coalition, will appear fresh to many, the first six chapters show the trials he had to undergo as a young politician. 

Unknown to many, for instance, was how MCA, with the help of Dong Jiao Zong, had painted Lim and DAP as being anti-Chinese education in the 1980s. 

According to Liew, the propaganda that DAP were run by English-educated leaders was so effective it led to the party’s defeat in the 1980s. 

And while the 1980s came to an end with the second ISA detention for Lim and his son Guan Eng, it also became an opportunity for them to forge alliances with then PAS leaders Mohamad Sabu, Mahfuz Omar and Khalid Samad at the Kamunting detention camp. 

This was the beginning of what would later become Pakatan Rakyat. 

Apart from national politics, Liew also highlighted Lim’s fight against the pro-Chinese groups within DAP from 1995 to 1999 and how the former secretary-general backed veteran trade unionist Ahmad Nor in the Gopeng by-election, much to the chagrin of party members.

But despite losing to MCA’s Dr Ting Chew Peh, Lim defended the decision by saying that for the good of DAP and Malaysia, more broad-based support was needed.  

“We are prepared to try to reach out and make a breakthrough to achieve Malay support and pay the price of failure, than not try at all,” he said.  

All in all, Liew’s book highlights Lim’s ability to think ahead of others in the party and his willingness to broaden DAP’s popularity instead of being “boxed in” to Chinese and Indians only. 

Liew also uses the book to dispel myths or rumours about the party and Lim, in particular. 

As Lim said in the final chapter: “I was accused of being a communist, a relative of Chin Peng, responsible for the May 13, 1969 riots, led street demonstrations in Kuala Lumpur shouting anti-Malay and anti-Islam slogans when I was in Sabah. 

“Painted as quite a devil, a puaka, that is anti-Malay, anti-Islam and even anti-Indian, anti-Chinese-educated Chinese, anti-English-educated Chinese, a KGB, CIA, MI6 and even Australian Intelligence.” 

But as Liew explained: “Perhaps some have mistaken his firm belief and political stand for something else.  

“His political life is full of challenges. And like an explorer, Lim is ahead of his time in the articulation of a Malaysian dream.”

And in that respect, Liew’s book has done a good job of dispelling the myth of Lim as the Chinese extremist devil he has been made out to be. – April 19, 2021.