Lim Kit Siang 林吉祥

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lim_Kit_Siang


Lim Kit Siang (born February 20, 1941; Chinese: 林吉祥; pinyin: Lín Jíxiáng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lîm Kiat-siông) is a prominent leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a democratic socialist opposition party in Malaysia. He is the father of current Chief Minister in the State of Penang, Lim Guan Eng.
Lim was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1977. He is married with four children. Since 1978, he has published 34 books.^[1]


Lim first emerged as a politician when he was National Organising Secretary of the DAP from 1966 to 1969. At the same time he was also entrusted to edit the party's newspaper, the Rocket. The course of the political landscape changed when he was promoted to Secretary-General in 1969 after being acting Secretary-General for a short period during a turbulent period in the country's history. He considers himself a Democratic socialist and is also a supporter of social democracy.
Lim was first elected as an MP for the Kota Melaka seat in 1969. His election was initially held to be void, however, because the law prohibited an election agent who had previously failed to discharge his duties from standing for election in the future.
The then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tun Abdul Razak, moved a motion in Parliament to prevent Lim from serving as an MP, granting him instead a period of time to request a royal pardon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King). After receiving the royal pardon, Lim was allowed to retain his seat.^[2]
Apart from 1999 - 2004 where he lost his seat due to the Chinese disenchantment with DAP entering into a political pact with the islamist PAS for the general elections, Lim represented various constituencies in four states:

• Bandar Melaka (1969–1974)
• Kota Melaka (1974–1978)
• Petaling Jaya (1978–1982)
• Kota Melaka (1982–1986)
• Tanjong (1986–1999)
• Ipoh Timur (since 2004)

He also served as a state assemblyman in Melaka and Penang during the following periods: Kubu, Melaka (1974–1982); Kampong Kolam, Penang (1986–1990); and Padang Kota, Penang (1990–1995).


He led the party in the capacity of Secretary-General until 1999 when he was elected Party Chairman, succeeding Chen Man Hin. In 2004, he refused re-appointment as the chairman and Karpal Singh was elected to replace him. Lim was then elected to an advisory role as the leader of a newly created body called the "Policy and Strategic Planning Commission". His son, Lim Guan Eng is currently the Secretary-General of the party and the Chief Minister of Penang.
After winning a parliamentary seat from Ipoh Timor during the 2004 general election, which also saw his party clinching the most seats of any opposition party, Lim became the Parliamentary Opposition Leader. In recent years the opposition have been campaigning for freer and fairer elections within Malaysia. On 10 November 2007, a mass rally, called the BERSIH Peaceful People’s Gathering, took place in the Dataran Merdeka Kuala Lumpur at 3pm to demand for clean and fair elections. The gathering was organised by BERSIH, a coalition comprising political parties and civil society groups, and drew supporters from all over the country.
In the March 2008 general election, he was re-elected as the Member of Parliament for Ipoh Timor with a majority of 21,942 votes.

His ancestral village is in Zhangzhou, Fujian province which makes him a Minnan native.