Lim Kit Siang, a tribute

Transcript: I'm Caroline. The writer asked me to deliver this commentary in place of those voodoo characters he usually employs. The writer said, being female, I am better suited to provide this brief tribute about a beloved Malaysian, a transparent personality yet sometimes misunderstood even by friends. For the affable Malaysian, such issues have to be taken in stride, and it has become a learning experience for those who know him. 

A comparison between a Hollywood star and a Malaysian.

Denzel Washington transcends racial barriers. He cannot 'blacken' his script, no matter how hard he tries, resulting in his roles being swappable with every Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Chow Yuen Fatt, and Jackie Chan. Washington did not create the ethnically neutral genre through acting lessons. An inherent character 'flaw' enables him to turn into a subliminal teaching device. 


Lim Kit Siang transcends racial barriers. He simply does because the longest-serving politician in the Malaysian Parliament has a similar character flaw. He did not evolve into an ethnically neutral Malaysian by rote. He was born one. Period. The quintessential politician is a walking Chinese, Indian, Malay, and other races combined. In essence, he is Malaysia's ubiquitous teaching device. He simply does not have an option in the true sense of the word and his job description.

Chance upon him on the street and say something, anything. He responds gregariously with his trademark smile, and instinctively, you know he has got you covered. He enters Parliament for a single purpose; to expose the guilt and machinations of corrupt politicians and captains of industry who are his prominent critics. Anyone who criticizes the man is perceived as unethical or harboring skeletons. A bulwark against fundamentalism, Lim Kit Siang, a diehard secularist, is despised by a quill breed of holy men who hold dreams of an Islamic Malaysia. Ironically, some of these characters ride on his coat-tails and publicly declare him pragmatically.

Tomas Masaryk, President and founder of Czechoslovakia passed away two years before Hitler occupied his country. Masaryk anticipated Hitler's idealism and was his fiercest critic. During his lifetime, it was said:- "As long as Masaryk is alive, Hitler would not start a war." 

The humanism and courage of Tomas Masaryk and Lim Kit Siang are linked. The epitaph of the Malaysian politician will read:- "As long as Lim Kit Siang is alive, Malaysia will not be Islamic."

This narrative was first published in 2010 by Tommy Peters.

Thank you for listening.

Words, Videography: Tommy Peters

(The animation was created in - the soon to be defunct - Xtranormal)