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.
In those early days, Lam Thye was defined by a deep sense of justice. As Member of Parliament for Bukit Bintang for four terms, he redefined the role of a representative. He was famously known as the “MP with a typewriter”, a man who walked the streets and sat in squatter areas and wet markets, ready to record and resolve the grievances of his constituents on the spot.
His accessibility was so legendary that it inspired the title of his biography, Call Lee Lam Thye – a phrase coined by Malaysia’s beloved cartoonist, Datuk Lat – commemorating the man who was always just a phone call away from helping a fellow citizen.
Lam Thye never attended university due to financial constraints. He chose instead the “university of life” through learning and working hard to achieve his ambition.
His contribution to the nation has been so significant that he has been awarded no fewer than six honorary doctorates from prestigious Malaysian universities, including USM, UKM, UMS, OUM, Unimas and Uniten.
It is a poetic irony that a man who started out as a temporary schoolteacher ended up being honoured by the highest echelons of the ivory tower.
He consistently spoke about crime prevention as a shared responsibility, arguing relentlessly that policing is not merely a job for our men in uniform but a sacred partnership between the authorities and the people.
His commitment to occupational safety and health was mirrored in his 25-year tenure as NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) chairman, which he transformed into a household name and made it the preferred partner of companies and industries in training and promoting occupational safety and health in the country.
What truly sets him apart are his “pet projects” – the causes that reveal the depth of his empathy. As a member of the Mental Health Promotion Advisory Council, he has become a tireless voice for the emotionally vulnerable. His compassion extends to even the animal kingdom as patron of SPCA Selangor.
This empathy explains why he received several awards, including the Occupational Safety and Health Excellence Award, National Unity Award, Pinel Award for Mental Health, the Langkawi Award, the Brandlaureate Brand Icon Leadership Award, National Unity Icon Leadership Award, CSR Special Award, and the Maulidur Rasul Award.
To my dear friend, your life is a gift to this country. Now in your 80th year, as you lead the Alliance for a Safe Community, an NGO you founded, you continue to teach us that ageing is not about the passage of years but the preservation of purpose.
Malaysia is a safer, kinder and more united place because you are in it.
PHILIP MATHEWS
Kuala Lumpur
(Read the full letter at thestar.com.my)
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