FORMER DAP Bukit Bintang MP Lee Lam Thye says he has no reason to fabricate stories about his departure from DAP, after party veteran Lim Kit Siang called him a liar.

Lee said he could not be faulted if “some people have selective memories”.

“I said I quit the party because I was told by Lim that I would not be standing for the 1990 parliamentary elections in the Bukit Bintang constituency, of which I had been the MP for four terms,” Lee said in statement.

He said he would not have retired if he had been allowed to defend his seat.

“This is the simple truth. There is no point belabouring this or prolonging the issue. It benefits no one. It belongs to the annals of history.

“As such, I wish to put this episode behind me,” he said, adding that he will not comment any further.

Earlier today, Lim, who was DAP secretary-general, accused Lee of lying in his biography.

Lee claimed he had quit politics on the eve of the 1990 general election because he had been betrayed by his party colleagues.

“He blamed me (as) DAP secretary-general in 1990, and some party colleagues for stabbing him in the back and (this had) led to his resignation on September 29, 1990,” Lim said in a statement.

“Lee said he was informed by the party leadership that he would be removed from his constituency.

“However, this is a big lie. I had never told Lee that he would not be contesting and the thought of him contesting in any seat apart from Bukit Bintang had never occurred to me before the 1990 general election.

Lim said it is regrettable Lee has seen fit to lie.

Lim said, although they had their differences, he had always regarded Lee’s approach as “complementary”, saying “DAP is what it is today because of the sum total of our different political styles”.

“I had my first discussion and meeting with him on September 19, where he told me that he had no intention of withdrawing his resignation as the Federal Territories DAP chairman, and also that he was going to announce his retirement from politics.

“The next 10 days were agonising days for him as well as for me. I had four meetings with him to try to persuade him to change his mind, not only to resume the chairmanship of Federal Territories DAP, but also to continue to provide his political leadership and services.”

Lim said, to date, he does not know why Lee decided to quit politics. – June 18, 2022.