PETALING JAYA: Veteran DAP politician Lim Kit Siang denies telling former Bukit Bintang MP Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye that the party leadership had decided to field him in another seat for the 1990 general election as claimed in the latter's newly released memoir.
"I never told Lee that he would not be contesting the Bukit Bintang constituency, and the thought of Lee contesting in any seat apart from Bukit Bintang had never occurred to me before the 1990 general election," said Kit Siang in a statement on Saturday (June 18).
In his newly-released memoir, Call Lee Lam Thye – Recalling a Lifetime of Service, the former Bukit Bintang MP wrote of how he endured unbearable internal politics, including relentless allegations.
According to Lee, in the run-up to the 1990 general election, he was informed by the party leadership that he would be removed from Bukit Bintang, which he had served for four terms.
"Till today, 32 years later, I still do not know why Lee quit politics on the eve of the 1990 general election," said Lim, who is the Iskandar Puteri MP.
Lim said that he also had checked his own records a day after Lee's announcement to retire from politics, stressing that he had tried to persuade Lee to change his mind.
"I also had several telephone conversations over the matter, and after a midnight telephone call... I thought I saw light at the end of the tunnel, and that Lee would reconsider his position.
"It proved to be otherwise, and Lee announced that he was retiring from politics."
The Bukit Bintang parliamentary seat was eventually contested by lawyer Wee Choo Keong, who also left the party in the end.
On Sept 29, 1990, Lee, who was a DAP deputy secretary-general, stunned the nation when he announced his decision to quit but offered no reasons.
