THAT retired DAP supremo Tan Sri Lim Kit Siang sang praises on the Bagan parliamentary constituency in his recent speech at the “Light 10,000 Red-Silk Lanterns” ceremony to welcome the Year of the Snake on Sunday (Jan 5) is rather intriguing to people familiar with Penang politics.
Aptly entitled, “Bagan Should Lead the Global Way”, one may be made to wonder how the 10,000 lanterns can raise the stature of Bagan while politically-savvy Penangites may be able to read in between the lines if the 83-year-old political maestro is subtly glorifying his son Guan Eng who is Bagan’s four-term MP and former Penang chief minister.
Although Kit Siang reminisced about how Bagan was DAP’s saving grace – thanks to the 118-majority feat by the late P. Patto – given the party endured its worst electoral defeat in three decades during the 1995 general elections, Penangites know that Bagan is what Permatang Pauh is for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s clan to the deemed “Lim Dynasty”.
Bagan is where 64-year-old Guan Eng who is currently the national DAP chairman consolidates his federal position after he graciously declined a ministerial portfolio in the aftermath of the 15th General Election (GE15) as an extension to his finance minister legacy during the short-lived Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration.
But beyond that, one wonders how Bagan is able to project a global image of the DAP or the quest for democracy. Or is the Senior Lim merely leverages Bagan’s political experience to bolster the image of his family?
“However, he (Patto) passed away three months later causing a by-election being held,” recalled Kit Siang in his speech shared with the media.
“I asked for a 5,000-vote majority to save DAP and democracy in the by-election to which Lim Hock Seng won the Bagan by-election on Sept. 9, 1995 with a 11,802-vote majority and (Bagan) earned the title of Democracy City.”
Internal party feud aside – chiefly with his Chief Minister successor Chow Kon Yeow in which Guan Eng is seen eyeing a return for a second term – his animosity with PAS of late points to the need to solidify support especially from Penang’s Chinese and Indian communities.
Friction with PAS
This is especially so as Perikatan Nasional (PN) has evidently made headways in Penang’s hinterland both in the GE15 and more recently during the state election in August 2023. Following the Permatang Pauh and Kepala Batas scalping in GE15, PN currently controls 11 of the 40 state sears in the Penang State Legislative Assembly.
More recently, Guan Eng’s found himself embroiled in war of words with PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari stemming from his claim that the Islamist party is playing a dangerous political version of “Squid Games” with their political grand design to eliminate their opponents to gain power at all costs has threatened to spill over.
“From demanding that Najib be arrested and charged in relation to the 1MDB RM 2 bil scandal in 2018 to now making a U-turn without any regard for due process of the law, PAS has shown itself to be dishonest in principles and unscrupulous in tactics,” he hit out in a statement.
For this reason, Gua Eng further described the Pasir Mas MP’s invitation to him to attend the Jan 6 solidarity rally for Najib as “a ridiculous political stunt bereft of principles, turning their back on the constitutional due process of the rule of law, hypocritical and opportunistic”.
Speaking about political heir, Guan Eng aside, his younger sister Hui Ying – despite being a green horn herself – currently holds the Deputy Finance Minister portfolio in the Madani government.
With proper grooming, the 61-year-old Tanjung MP and DAP Penang state secretary could well team up with her elder brother to continue the Lim’s dynasty legacy for a second generation. – Jan 8, 2025
Main image credit: Malaysiakini
