[UPDATED] Lee Lam Thye fibbing about betrayal from DAP in his memoir: Kit Siang

KUALA LUMPUR – Veteran DAP politician Lim Kit Siang has accused former party colleague Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye of lying about circumstances that led to the latter’s exit from DAP, as revealed in Lee’s latest autobiography. 

The Iskandar Puteri MP denied ever telling Lee that the party’s leadership had decided to field him, the then incumbent MP in Bukit Bintang, in another seat for the 1990 general election, as claimed in the new book. 

“The thought of Lam Thye contesting in any seat apart from Bukit Bintang had never occurred to me before the 1990 general election. 

“It is most regrettable that Lam Thye has to tell a big lie in his autobiography (about) why he quit politics. 

“Until today, 32 years later, I still do not know why Lam Thye quit politics on the eve of the 1990 general election,” Lim wrote in a statement today. 

At that time, Lim was serving as DAP’s secretary-general while Lee held the position of DAP Federal Territory chief. 

Lim’s comments come on the back of revelations within Lee’s newly released autobiography, where he claimed political backstabbing by DAP was what drove him out of active politics.

Lim also managed to bring up archived excerpts from a speech he gave in 1990 following Lee’s departure from the party, which related the former’s repeated attempts to persuade his colleague to reverse his exit. 

In his speech from over 30 years ago, Lim admitted mentioning a supposed rift within DAP’s leadership that stemmed from one another’s different political ideals, but stressed he instead saw the differences as complementary to each other’s ideals. 

He said the duo had met four times over the span of 10 days, with Lim repeatedly trying to persuade Lee to reverse his decision to leave politics, which also included personal phone calls outside of these meetings. 

“After a midnight call on Thursday, I thought I saw light at the end of the tunnel, that Lam Thye would reconsider his position. 

“It proved otherwise, and on Saturday, Lam Thye announced that he was retiring from politics. 

“It is most regrettable that Lam Thye has to tell a big lie in his autobiography (on) why he quit politics,” Lim wrote. 

Lee, in the recent autobiography, also claimed he tried appealing the decision to drop him from the Bukit Bintang seat with DAP’s higher-ups but failed, then saying he sensed something sinister behind their decision.

He also revealed how despite his efforts as deputy secretary-general in trying to hold the party together post-Ops Lalang in 1987, his falling out with the party’s leadership then left him with little choice but to retire entirely from politics. – The Vibes, June 18, 2022