DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang has turned down the DAP Central Executive Committee’s (CEC) proposal for him to become the “mentor” for the party he has founded more than 50 years ago.
“There is however no need for any position, and I am therefore declining the CEC proposal to be DAP mentor,” he said in a speech during a dinner with DAP leaders and MPs on Tuesday night (April 12).
“I have informed Anthony Loke a few days earlier of my decision that he can expect my full support for his leadership as the sixth DAP secretary-general although I have no party position.”
Lim further noted that he could not retire completely from politics as “politics impinges on every aspect of one’s life”.
“As a die-hard DAP worker who had spent 56 years of my life to advance the cause of DAP I will always be available to offer my views and advice on the future of Malaysia and DAP’s new direction,” he remarked.
During DAP’s 17th annual congress on March 20, 2022 the 81-year-old Iskandar Puteri MP announced his retirement from politics and will not be contesting any positions whether for the party’s CEC or in future parliamentary or state elections.
Lim, who has been with the party for 56 years 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 had been in the CEC since 1966 when he began as a national organising secretary before going on to hols the powerful secretary-general post for 30 years from 1969. – April 13, 2022
