PETALING JAYA: He might be 30 years old and new in the political arena, but Lim Si Ching has his eyes wide open in contesting the Damansara parliamentary seat for the 15th General Election.
As the youngest son of former Gerakan president Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik, Si Ching, who is a graduate in international business, knows his debut in politics under Perikatan Nasional involves a big sacrifice.
He feels it is important for veteran politicians to pass on the torch to the younger candidates, with the vision to improve the status of Malaysia as a developing country.
Born and bred in Petaling Jaya, Si Ching joined Gerakan in 2018 just a few months before GE14.
“After I joined the party, I always wanted to bring a revival as a representative of the younger generation.
“We need younger members for the party to survive.
“So far, I have received some positive feedback from voters in the Damansara constituency,” he told StarMetro at his operations centre in Mutiara Damansara.
Si Ching will contest the Damansara seat in GE15 against Gobind Singh from Pakatan Harapan and Tan Gim Tuan from Barisan Nasional.
Si Ching said he realised how important it was to even set up an operations centre for the election.
“I didn’t know the point of having an operations centre before, because I saw a lot of candidates just putting up canopies on the road, which was disorganised and messy, especially with our weather.
“Even the cost that goes into an election and managing your coalition members is something to learn.
“Win or lose, I will still continue in politics because I want to serve and contribute to the community from what my late father did,” he added.
One of the main issues to tackle as an MP candidate, according to Si Ching, is making the foreign labour market more competitive and regulated.
“Foreign workers here are not managed properly by the companies that hire them.
"The voters, not only in Damansara but everywhere, don’t want foreign labourers to cause a nuisance, and one solution to solve this problem is to have a proper centralised quarters for those who are documented and undocumented, so the ministry can monitor their movement.
“It’s important to see how we can solve the labour shortage issues in Parliament because if we don’t do this, our economy will falter further.
“SMEs and bigger corporations all are facing the same issues.
“It’s important for our Human Resources Ministry to foster better ties with countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia and Philippines,” he said.
Si Ching said permit issuance for foreign labour should not be controlled by agents who monopolise the industry.
“I want to push for a free market for this in Parliament if elected,” he added.
