AS Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye celebrated his 79th birthday on Dec 30, 2025, Malaysia did not just mark a milestone for an individual, it also celebrated the enduring legacy of a man who has become one of the nation’s foremost icons of public service.
For me, this milestone is deeply personal. I first met Lam Thye in the late 1960s. At that time, I was a cadet journalist with The Straits Times and he was a rising trade unionist and budding politician. Since then, I have followed his work, progress and his evolution as a former politician and now as a community/social activist.
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