The heartbreaking reality of a party veteran
Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily
When lovers break up, they would normally wish the other happiness in hope of leaving behind a legacy of fond memories.
When a colleague leaves the job, the supervisor will also wish him or her all the best in future endeavors.
But when a party veteran quits, the boss just jeers: These are malignant tumours we must get rid of at once.
I have no idea how the “tumours” would feel. All that I could feel is a crippling chill that penetrates deep into my bones.
Malacca DAP veterans Sim Tong Him (pic), Goh Leong San and two others have chosen to quit the party. With his 43 years of pledged loyalty to DAP, the time Sim spent in the party is longer than the biological age of many a young leader in the party.
Older residents in the state can tell us that being raised in a very strict family, Sim has been a righteous man of respectful upbringing and culture. He was among the pioneers when joining DAP in the 1970s, totally unaware of the cruel reality of party infighting and rivalry as he made every effort to be a sincere, conscientious and down-to-earth opposition politician.
Even after DAP gained some ground in the state later, Sim never tried to proclaim himself a local warlord by flexing his influence. In its stead, he brought the Lim family to Malacca.
Thanks to the Pak Lah effect, opposition parties were forced into a very precarious position in 2004. Sim offered the safe seat of Kota Laksamana to Lim Guang Eng’s wife Betty Chew, himself challenging MCA’s candidate in Ayer Keroh.
In the end, Chew breezed her way into the state assembly as Sim was humiliated in the BN stronghold.
Of course, what happened next has been endless infighting between the opposing factions.
Infighting has become a norm in many political parties, some healthy, some less healthy; some more cultured, others not so cultured.
What I was trying to say is that from a total barren land to a fertile ground, Malacca DAP has thrived on the hard work of pioneers in the likes of Sim Tong Him.
People like him should be appreciated and treasured, not publicly decried as “tumours” that must be plucked at all costs.
What has happened has baffled many through the interplay of such a mean level of political culture.
While people can come and go, all ought to be treated with some degree of respect, not venomous curses.
A party veteran’s departure could not have taken place on the spur of the moment or out of some kind of reprisal. No one can bid adieu this easily to an institution he has spent more than half his lifetime in.
The decision to leave could have been made out of complete disappointment, but in no way should the ones still in power treat a departing veteran so worthlessly, calling him all sorts of bad names.
Sim and three others subsequently offered their apologies to the public for urging the Chinese community to rally behind PAS during the 2008 and 2013 general elections, which I personally see as a genuine display of responsibility, as many others choose to dodge the truth and pretend nothing has happened.
