Insider columnist writes book on Guan Eng

BANGI, Oct 18 – For all his newfound fame as the first DAP Chief Minister of Penang, few Malaysians know Lim Guan Eng. A new book launched today attempts to address this matter.

Titled "Lim Guan Eng: Dari Penjara Ke Tampuk Kuasa" is a slim volume in Bahasa Malaysia authored by veteran journalist Wan Hamidi Wan Hamid, a long-time friend to Lim.

It describes the DAP secretary-general's life, views and political career from his detention under the Internal Security Act in 1987 and his incarceration under the Sedition Act and the Printing Presses and Publications Act in 1998 for fighting for the rights of a young Malay girl to the present.

Hamidi who is now the editor of The Rocket, a DAP monthly publication, said he had written the book to inform the public about who Lim really is.

"You know who Lim Guan Eng is. But you think those people in the rural areas know who he is?" Hamidi said. He added that it was also why he chose to write in the national language, to cater to the majority

Malays who make up more than 60 per cent of the population.

Hamidi's book on Lim was launched by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the DAP's first national-level Aidilfitri open house in Stadium MPKJ here.

The book, priced at RM15 during the event (it normally costs RM20) was quickly snapped up by the visitors to the open house who managed to get their copies autographed by Lim who is also the Member of Parliament for Bagan.

"This is going back with me to the States," said Datuk R. Chander, the chief executive officer of the US-based Cresset Research Group. He, too, had joined the queue to get Lim's autograph.

Lawyer, Shakuntala Sharma from Penang, was equally excited to purchase a copy.

"It started with the Rahim Tamby Chik case," she said, referring to Lim's imprisonment for breaking open the scandal of former Umno Youth chief and Chief Minister of Malacca, Tan Sri Rahim Tamby Chik, who had allegedly had sex with a minor.

She beamed proudly: "He has really made it."