“DO you want change? Do you?” Lim Kit Siang bellowed as he held a microphone for the first time since returning from a kidney operation.

Despite his 76 years and having just recovered from an operation to remove a malignant tumor from his left kidney last month, the Batu Pahat native showed no signs that he had ever left the stage.

But just three hours earlier in an interview with The Malaysian Insight, the Johorean gave brief glimpses into a side rarely seen.

Despite his 60 years in politics and seven parliamentary terms, Lim seldom strays from his political persona. 

To one segment of Malaysia, Lim is the epitome of an anti-Malay and anti-Islam politician, while to the media, he is seen as the opposition leader who calls for daily press conferences in Dewan Rakyat.

But away from the stage and Parliament’s lobby, Lim sets aside politics for a few minutes to relate how his recent illness affected him.

“Well, it’s a challenge to come back after the cancer operation, the recuperation and the break. But you feel at the end of it all, after 60 years, this is the only chance for the country and the people for real change, and you got to get back to it,” said Lim as he sipped on his kopi-O yesterday.

Lim said he thought of quitting politics momentarily before the operation but banished the idea after his surgery.

“The thought (of quitting) came to me. What if at the end of the operation I don’t come out and that’s that. But…,” said Lim, as he trailed off in laughter.

“But this is the only occasion that we are going to change and if I miss it this time, then the future elections will be much more difficult”.

While Lim is never short of words or breath during a ceramah, the former Straits Times reporter had very few words when asked about what he felt when he was diagnosed with cancer.

“It came as a bolt of lightning. Of course, you then see what’s in store for you. I just had to take it in my stride although if you don’t come out of the op and that’s it,” he said stoically.

Lim said the tumor was discovered accidentally during a regular prostate check-up.

“At first, they said it may be a small tumour, 2.5cm and could be benign. One possibility was to check again four months later but elections seem to be then also.

 “And further echocardiogram and MRI checks showed that it was probably malignant. So, taking into account the time factor of four months or 100 days, and how I could be caught in the thick of elections, I said okay-lah and had the operation to remove it.

“It was later diagnosed as early stage (cancer) and had not spread to the other parts but they still had 30% of the left kidney removed.

 “Of course, 10 years ago, the whole kidney would have gone as you can survive on one kidney.”

But while the interview was about a post-operation Lim Kit Siang, the DAP man was more comfortable talking about his dreams for the country.

“I think there’s a certain (level of) privacy that one should try to protect for the family and in life.

“I’m sure we all have weaknesses because we are not gods. But you have to ask my wife on that.”

Asked if politics has come at a cost for him, Lim said it was something he had devoted himself to.

“I have come into it and I have dedicated myself to it for more than half a century. And its something that is worthwhile and is something that I have done with commitment. And that’s that.”

Asked what he thought about a Malaysia that still depended on older leaders such as himself, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Muhyiddin Yassin and Anwar Ibrahim, Lim just shrugged his shoulders.

“Something’s very wrong with this country that after 60 years the country is trapped in this trajectory of a rogue and failed state. And as such, you need the old and the young to come together to reset the nation.

“So that we can dream the Malaysian dream and be prosperous, united, competitive and progressive rather than disunited and losing out to the other states in the world.”

Lim said he would quit politics only when the country is headed in the right direction.

“Until then, it is the commitment and responsibility of every Malaysian, regardless of race, gender and age, to put their shoulder to the wheel to bring about this change. Then the country can go on its own. But this critical change must take place first.” – January 28, 2018.