That helps explain why, on the 9th of November 2013, the senior Lim wished the former premier a life of “a hundred years.” Being the evangelist he is, Kit Siang probably advocates to a widespread Christian belief that “the evil man tends to outlive the pious to reap the harvest of his own misdeeds.”
THE THIRD FORCE
On the 9th of November 2013, some six months after the 13th general election, Lim Kit Siang sank his teeth into the ego of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, ripped a little piece of it apart, and showed it to the media. There written on it was a message that read, “don’t die – not until you’ve reaped your harvest.”
That’s right.
In a literal sense, the senior Lim wished his fellow Machiavellian “a life of a hundred years,” hoping that the latter would be around to see the destruction of Mahathirism, the cancer that plagues the nation. And I’ll have to say, I still can’t figure out if it was sarcasm at its best or something Kit Siang genuinely wished would happen. Either way, it’s hardly surprising.
It isn’t, because it’s coming from a man who spent an entire lifetime censuring Mahathir for his many dictatorial attributes, among them being his tendency to “oppress critics through the legislation of laws” Kit Siang once insisted were “undemocratic and draconian.” The senior Lim used to say that the former premier “systematically Islamized all faculties of the social and administrative strata” to infuse “Islamic fundamentalism into mainstream ideology.”
That was the Kit Siang of the eighties and the nineties, a man who insisted that Malaysia under Mahathirism was “doomed to digression” should the progression of “pro-Islamic policies not be nipped in the bud.” The senior Lim impressed upon the Chinese that Mahathir was a racist who would one day usurp their rights to profess religions of their choice.
An excerpt from Roketkini (in Malay) published on the 9th of November 2013 reads as follows:
…beliau (Kit Siang) berdoa semoga Mahathir akan hidup sehingga 100 tahun untuk menyaksikan kemerosotan dan berakhirnya Mahathirisme.
“Pada PRU-13 lalu, Mahathir menyeru rakyat Johor mengerahkan tenaga bagi memastikan Johor menjadi “kubur” saya dan seruan itu diberi sambutan hangat oleh Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yang mengisytiharkan bahawa saya “terperangkap” di Gelang Patah dan kerjaya politik saya telah “tamat,” (menurut Kit Siang).
A very powerful message coming from the very powerful Kit Siang, who, together with his son, keeps a tight lid on the DAP, almost as if the party belongs to his family. And quite frankly, it does – a shared dictatorship of sorts, the party has since grown synonymous to the Lims and is often referred to as the “Kit Siang party.”
Back in 1988, it was the same story with Dr Mahathir Mohamad. The former premier, who got UMNO deregistered to flush his critics from the party, is fondly remembered for twisting the arms of judiciary and trampling over the Federal Constitution to establish UMNO baru, a party that came to be known as “Mahathir’s UMNO.”
So back then, it was “Mahathir’s UMNO” versus “Kit Siang’s DAP,” unlike today, where it is “Mahathir’s and Kit Siang’s Pakatan Harapan” versus “Najib’s UMNO.” For Mahathir, it is now all about bringing down UMNO with the help of a man (Kit Siang) who knows best how to rile them up. From where I stand, the Mahathir-Kit Siang union is a marriage made in heaven, more than it is anything else.
Their prime target?
Dato’ Seri Najib Tun Razak. Just so that you know, Najib is the man Mahathir hand-picked to replace Abdullah Hj Ahmad Badawi in 2008. Today, the former premier sees Najib unfit to lead the nation and wants him removed at all cost. If there is one thing Mahathir wants to see before he dies, it is a non-aristocrat leading the country by or before 2021.
To guarantee Kit Siang’s support, Mahathir pledged to turn him into the country’s first Chinese Deputy Prime Minister under the administration of Dato’ Seri Mukhriz Mahathir, the latter’s son. The pledge brought about tremendous changes in Kit Siang’s attitude towards Mahathir that were nothing short of ‘miraculous’.
For one, the senior Lim no longer regards Mahathir to be an “Islamic fundamentalist,” nor does he believe the former premier “looted Bank Negara through a foreign exchange (forex) scandal” in the early nineties. Today, Mahathir is Malaysia’s very own Mahatma Gandhi, with Kit Siang stopping short only of calling him the infallible leader of all Malaysians.
And let us not forget His Holiness, the “Tokong of Penang,” Lim Guan Eng.
In a forum held on the 8th of May 2016, the junior Lim sang praises of Mahathir, calling him the embodiment of an “insightful man” who “transformed Malaysia into what it is today.” On that day, Mahathir was promoted to the status of an angel who dropped right down from heaven, landing straight into the Penang Straits Quay convention centre where the forum was held. So intense was the praise, the only thing the two did not do was have sex on stage in front of 600-odd spectators.
Yes, that is how it is with Kit Siang and Guan Eng – you’re the devil one day, and the angel the next. Back in 2013, not only was Mahathir the root of all evil, he was – according to Kit Siang – “the reason the country was failing and on the verge of bankruptcy.” Back then, the idea of sharing a stage with Mahathir would have been sacrilegious against God, as the latter was deemed by Kit Siang “a man of devious (and unholy) pursuits.”
That helps explain why, on the 9th of November 2013, the senior Lim wished the former premier a life of “a hundred years.” Being the evangelist he is, Kit Siang probably advocates to a widespread Christian belief that “the evil man tends to outlive the pious to reap the harvest of his own misdeeds.”
Is that not so, Kit Siang?
