GEORGE TOWN – DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang has called on the people to reflect for a moment where the country would be in a hundred years’ time.
Kit Siang predicted that it was a time when the four top economic powers may likely be China, India, the United States and Indonesia.
Would Malaysia be a failed state? A hundred years is a long time. I certainly would not be around in 2057. I think many of you may also not be around. We need to ponder.”
Kit Siang was speaking at the launch of his book Malaysian First Volume 1: None But The Bold, which was authored by media personality Kee Thuan Chye.
Present at the launch at G Hotel here were Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, Kit Siang’s son Lim Guan Eng, the outgoing DAP secretary-general, and Penang Institute executive director Datuk Ooi Kee Beng, also known as Kee, who moderated the event.
Kit Siang said that Malaysia has much to offer in 2057, as it can harness its talents from Malaysians made up of Malay Muslims, Chinese and India descents, as well as the Europeans.
“But the question I posed is whether we can be progressive, or would we be a failed state by then? There are certainly signs of us failing.”
Earlier, Chow in paying tribute to the man, who appointed him as his political secretary in the 1980s, said that Kit Siang was a visionary because in the 1970s, he had already filed a Private Members Bill in Parliament to lower the voting age from 21 to 18.
The government agreed to implement the reduction in voting age to 18 later this month.
Kit (Siang) also fought for the forming of a human rights commission and anti-party hopping legislation back in the 1970s. It showed he was ahead of his time."
Chow said that the book had depicted Kit Siang’s human side apart from his political persona as a leader who had served DAP from the 1960s to now.
Another glimpse offered by Chow was that contrary to the perception that Kit Siang was a dictator, he was more of an introvert who spoke little but was passionate about his job in promoting DAP’s political idealism of a Malaysia that is fair to all.
Later, Guan Eng said that Kit Siang married early and was a father at the age of 19.
The struggle continues, he said, adding that his mother Neo Yoke Tee was ever present when his father was absent during the long struggle and sacrifices the family made.
"I am honoured to be your son,” Guan Eng said as his voice broke.
Kee mentioned that the book was not financed by DAP but funded by donations from his friends, business associates, relatives, and his schoolmates.
Kee spoke about how the Johor-born Kit Siang tried to fight against racialism which has been institutionalised after the 1969 racial riots, arguing that the country began its steep descent from a nascent one to the present stagnation since that episode.
Kee said that there would be a second volume written soon, where he would touch on the experiences of both Kit Siang and Guan Eng when the duo were imprisoned in Kamunting (Taiping), Perak after they were detained under the Internal Security Act 1960.
Kee would also touch on the concurrent political issues, and Kit Siang’s relationship with the two-time former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed. – The Vibes, December 5, 2021
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