THE country’s 15th General Election will showcase candidates vying for the coveted 222 spots in Dewan Rakyat. More will be contesting for state seats with the exception of Sarawak, Melaka and Johor, or other states that have decided not to dissolve the state assemblies.
I wonder how many among them will become another Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye?
After all, how many politicians who served for four terms ended up living in a semi-detached house in a working class neighbourhood, owning a MyVi as a personal car and for the wife, a 10-year-old Toyota Camry.
Lee was a representative of the people in the true sense of the word. Perhaps things have changed. He is from a different era. Those were the days when most representatives were relatively poor. They lived on allowances and not much more.
When he was a wakil rakyat he drove a Mazda 323 and later a Mitsubishi Gallant. He could have used his connections to enrich himself. After all he was representing the constituencies in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor from 1969 to 1990.
But Lam Thye has made up his mind. He wanted to serve. And he served his constituencies well. He was 22 when he first won the Bukit Nanas state constituency, unseating the incumbent, Loong Foong Beng, of ruling party. However for the Klang parliamentary seat, he lost to V. Manickavasagam from the Alliance.
He was “discovered by” Devan Nair, a trade unionist at the time. Nair later became the third president of Singapore. It was interesting how Nair found him. Lam Thye wrote a letter to Lee Kuan Yew, one of the founder members of People’s Action Party (PAP) whom he admired for his tenacity and commitment.
Kuan Yew did not answer his letter, but Nair appeared at his parents’ home in Menglembu a year later. It was Nair who encouraged him to go to Kuala Lumpur and he worked for the National Union of Commercial Workers (NUCW).
A year later DAP picked him to contest in the 1969 general election.
It was an election unlike any other. The Alliance lost many seats. Other than DAP, parties like PAS, the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and the Malayan People Movement (Gerakan) made substantial inroads to deprive the Alliance of its two-third majority in Parliament.
It was a wake-up call for the Malay ruling elite. Even prior to that, tension was running high, racial politics was played to the fullest. The May 13 incident was a black chapter in race relations in the country.
Lam Thye was undeterred by the incident. He knew he had work to do, not just to serve, but to carry the burden of bridging the gap resulting from suspicion among the races. It wasn’t easy for the young politician. And he has to do it in Kuala Lumpur where the skirmishes happened.
Back then Lam Thye had an Olivetti Lettera 35 as his arsenal. He took his faithful typewriter everywhere he went. Those days, everything needed surat sokongan (letter of support) and the official stamp of a representative – from applying for student loans to application for a gerai (hawker stall) from DBKL.
He spent most of his days at coffee shops meeting people and typing letters.
Legend has it that Lam Thye was at the site of any fire even before the fire brigade arrived or at the disaster area ahead of emergency services people. “Call Lee Lam Thye!” was the tagline made famous by Datuk Lat, in one of his most famous cartoons. Thus, the title of the incredible book about him penned by journalists Sofea Chok Suat Ling and P. Selvarani. As the sub-heading of the book says, “Recalling a Lifetime of Service”, his service did not end when he left the party and his constituencies in 1990, he soldiered on. He was in the thick of things, being part of many NGOs and companies.
Many opposition politicians chose to adopt a combative stance against the establishment. Lee took a different route. His style was that of engagement to get results.
He was never labelled a firebrand nor adopted a confrontational approach. But his methods did not please many in his own party. After 21 years he decided to quit politics. But he never wavered on his stand of not condemning the party that had given him the opportunity to serve.
Today, politicians are at the bottom of the trust index. Honesty, sincerity and integrity are abandoned by many.
Hypocrisy looms large as a trait associated with them. Being in politics is the stepping stone to enrich oneself. Perhaps Lam Thye can still be the beacon of what a politician ought to be.
We hope to find many more like him to serve us and the nation in the coming general election.
Johan Jaaffar is a journalist, editor and for some years chairman of a media company, and is passionate about all things literature and the arts. And a diehard rugby fan. The views expressed here are entirely his own.
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