Independence fighter and politician Lim Kean Chye dies at 103

GEORGE TOWN: Lim Kean Chye, who fought for Malaysia's independence has died at the age of 103.

His family said Lim, a founding member of the Malayan Democratic Union, died on Wednesday (June 7).

His party fought for the independence of Malaya and Singapore and was a proponent of left-wing politics and was part of the All-Malaya Council of Joint Action which drafted the constitutional proposal for Malaya in 1947.

Kean Chye, like his father Lim Cheng Ean, was a Cambridge-trained lawyer.

His father was a legislative councillor in the 1930s and the grandson of Phuah Hin Leong.

Kean Chye's daughter Lim Miao Yiong said her father had a pacemaker installed 10 years ago and was frail and weak.

"He died of old age," she said.

She said there would not be a wake held and the family wanted a private cremation ceremony.

He is survived by his wife, daughters Miao Ling and Miao Yiong, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.