Asia Times: Malaysia's Lim goes from prisoner to vote winner



	August 26, 1999	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Malaysia's Lim goes from prisoner to vote winner
By Anil Netto

KUALA LUMPUR - The release from prison of former opposition lawmaker Lim Guan Eng on Wednesday has brightened the Malaysian opposition's prospects ahead of a looming general election.

Already, supporters are preparing a hero's welcome for Lim in major cities in the peninsula, kicking off with a grand homecoming in Malacca city, 150 kilometres south of the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.

Lim's release comes not a moment too soon for the opposition. He could well be a key figure, along with jailed former deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, in galvanizing the campaign against Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. A general election is due anytime between now and next August, and many analysts feel Lim's presence could sway the fence-sitters among the Chinese Malaysian community, who make up a quarter of the country's 22 million people.

The joyful scenes outside Kajang prison near Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday morning bordered on the bizarre. A crowd of some 5,000 turned up, expecting Lim to walk out of the prison gates after 9 am. Unbeknown to them, a limousine had spirited Lim away from the prison at 7.50 am and dropped him at a nearby hotel. Lim told IPS he had to call his family for transport back to the prison to meet the waiting well-wishers.

''The mood was really great and the crowd was so excited,'' said Chong Eng, a leader of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) of which Lim is deputy secretary-general. On hand to greet him were Lim's wife, Betty, and her children as well as the leaders of other Malaysian opposition parties. Lim clambered onto his father's car and gave a short speech to the crowd.

He told IPS later: ''I am relieved the ordeal is over and enjoying the freedom.'' But he expressed regret that Anwar is still imprisoned. ''You never know how much freedom means until you have lost it.''

Lim was convicted in April last year of sedition and publishing false news and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. The 38-year-old former accountant had publicly criticized the government's handling of a sex scandal in which a prominent leader of Mahathir's ruling United Malays National Organization was alleged to have raped a 15-year-old girl.

Lim, the son of DAP and parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang, was jailed last August after losing an appeal. That led to his disqualification as member of parliament for the Malacca city constituency. His request for a royal pardon was also turned down despite petitions by hundreds of thousands of Malaysians.

Lim's release on Wednesday came after a customary one-third remission of the prison term, but he is barred from contesting the coming general election.

Human rights activist P Ramakrishnan said that Lim is rejoining Malaysian society not as a convicted criminal but with his stature enhanced and his integrity intact. ''Because he stood by his principles and did what was expected of a decent, caring human being, Malaysians will not forget this injustice meted out to him,'' he said, pointing to the fact that Lim transcended ethnic boundaries in supporting the ethnic Malay girl who had been raped.

Soon after Lim's imprisonment a year ago, Anwar landed in the Sungai Buloh prison in Kuala Lumpur. Anwar was sacked and arrested in September last year, and was beaten up in jail by the country's police chief before being convicted of abuse of power. This sparked the "reformasi" movement, a ground-swell clamor for political and social reforms.

Lim and Anwar later patched up their political differences in a celebrated exchange of letters from their different cells, highlighting a closing of ranks among anti-government critics usually separated along political and ethnic lines.

''In some ways, our incarceration has helped open the eyes of Malaysians to the injustices in our system, and thereby to rouse them from their complacency and encourage them to participate more meaningfully in the political process,'' wrote Anwar in January.

Lim responded to his former political foe two weeks later. ''We took divergent paths and were headed toward the opposite ends of the political spectrum. Yet, both of us ended in prison - victims of injustice and gross abuse of power,'' he wrote. ''The cry of reformasi, and its antithesis of corruption, cronyism and nepotism, is equally a cry for justice. This is what makes the reformasi challenge so sustainable and leaves the government completely confused.''

After the home-coming celebrations, Lim will have to contend with squabbling within the DAP, which has drained it of its vitality. Party dissidents have accused Lim's father, the DAP secretary general, of favoring Lim and sidelining party veterans. Some of these disenchanted DAP members have broken away to form a new party, the Malaysian Democratic Party.

Although Lim will be barred from standing in the elections, observers expect his wife Betty to contest his old Malacca city seat. For his part, Lim is likely to assist other opposition leaders in addressing the concerns of Chinese Malaysians. ''Until the next general election, I will work hard for the party to conscientize Malaysians as to the need for reforms and to establish justice and democracy,'' said Lim.

The opposition front, still fractured by differences, can safely count on 30 percent of the Chinese votes, analysts say. Lim's role would likely be to draw the large number of floating voters in the community who are concerned that a change in government would hurt stability and economic progress.

Mahathir himself has been wooing Chinese Malaysian voters, but denies that his high-profile trip to China from August 18-20 was a political gimmick.

(Inter Press Service)

back to the top

©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.

Southeast Asia Sex News | Asian Sex Gazette