KUALA LUMPUR, March 20 — Veteran DAP politician Lim Kit Siang announced his retirement from politics today.
The 81-year-old Iskandar Puteri MP told delegates at the DAP’s 17th annual congress here that he will not be contesting any position, whether for the party’s central executive committee today or in future parliamentary or state elections.
“I take this opportunity to announce my political retirement and I will not contest for any position, including the party CEC today — you should delete No. 39 from the CEC candidate list — or any parliamentary or state assembly seat,” he said.
Kit Siang, who has been with the party for 56 years, marked that the DAP commemorated its 56th anniversary two days ago.
He said he was glad to see the party grow from a small Opposition party from the first general election in 1969 into a major political party and a component of the Pakatan Harapan coalition that won the 14th general election in 2018 to form the federal government as well as the state government in seven states.
He said the most recent state election in Johor was a reminder that the “Malaysian dream” to build a united, democratic and just nation “is a long-term political struggle”.
He urged DAP members to hold fast to their ideals and never compromise their principles.
“The battle for the Malaysian Dream must go on until it is achieved but this is in your hands,” he said.
At a press conference after his speech, Kit Siang said he meant to announce his retirement from politics a year ago when nominations for the DAP CEC started.
He gave his age when asked the reason for his decision.
“Eighty-one years old. I’m old. How many of you are 81 years old?” he asked, smiling.
He added that he had not made any plans for the foreseeable future but would probably rest for a bit and then think about it.
He also said he would convey any advice he had for the party’s leaders in private, when asked if he had any message for the younger ones.
“If there is any advice, it will be private advice,” he said.
Tribute to Kit Siang
In the DAP congress earlier, Kit Siang’s son and the party’s outgoing secretary-general Lim Guan Eng delivered a speech that paid tribute to his father’s contributions to the party when it was established in 1966 by 11 men.
“Eleven young men, many in their 30s, stood up to make a commitment with a confident vision of a young nation that is a free and democratic Malaysia based on the principles of racial equality, and social and economic justice, and founded on the institutions of parliamentary democracy.
“DAP was young then. Saudara Dr Chen Man Hin our first national chairman, was probably the oldest, in his 40s.
“In 1967, a 26-year-old young man Saudara Lim Kit Siang, was co-opted into the CEC.
“Little did they know then, that Lim Kit Siang would become a giant amongst Malaysian politicians for his brilliance, courage, indomitable spirit and loyalty to ideals and principles,” said Guan Eng.
The younger Lim hailed his father as the longest-serving Opposition leader in Parliament and that many ministers considered Kit Siang their only worthy opponent.
Guan Eng went as far to say that many international correspondents regarded Kit Siang as “the best prime minister that Malaysia will never have because of his ethnicity”.
“Perhaps this is the reason he has also been demonised and falsely maligned as being responsible for the 1969 May 13 riots in Kuala Lumpur when he was in Kota Kinabalu, being anti-Malay, anti-Chinese and anti-Indian. Kit embodied the DAP’s lonely struggle in opposition and ultimate success in winning power,” said Guan Eng.
Guan Eng also spoke of the countless death threats and detentions faced by his father before the Internal Security Act was abolished.
In a brief glimpse of their familial ties, Guan Eng said: “Our family is jealous of the time that DAP has taken away from him and that we have to share his love with the DAP.”
However, he added that their family fully respects and supports Kit Siang’s life-long determination to make Malaysian lives better.
“For many of us who know that without Kit Siang leading our veteran leaders, there would be no DAP today as well as many of us who remained in DAP during the painful days in Opposition due to his example or the young leaders here who joined DAP because they were inspired by Kit Siang, we want to thank you for all you have done.
“On behalf of DAP and the DAP family, let us thank you deeply and gratefully from the bottom of our hearts,” said Guan Eng.
