Kit Siang: the longest-surviving dictator in the world

By MT Webmaster Last updated Mar 19, 2017

Kim Il-sung was North Korea’s supreme leader for 46 years. Robert Mugabe has dominated Zimbabwe’s politics for 37 years. Ferdinand Marcos was ousted after 31 years. Suharto lasted 30 years. Joseph Stalin led Russia for 30 years. Saddam Hussein led his Ba’ath Party for 30 years. François Duvalier was his country’s leader for 14 years. Idi Amin was in power for eight years. Kit Siang refuses to let go after 51 years and will still be around to celebrate his 60th Anniversary of ruling DAP.

DAP: THE INSIDE STORY

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Three years after Merdeka and soon after Lim Guan Eng was born, Lim Kit Siang decided to leave Malaysia and to make a new life for himself in Singapore. His close association with Singapore’s leader, Lee Kuan Yew, started when Kit Siang became C.V. Devan Nair’s political secretary — the founder of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) who later became the Third President of Singapore.

When Singapore separated from Malaysia in 1965, Malaysians who lived in Singapore (and vice versa) were asked to choose between Malaysian citizenship and Singaporean citizenship. Kit Siang chose Singaporean citizenship. However, certain developments made it necessary for Kit Siang to keep his Malaysian citizenship because Kuan Yew needed him to return to Malaysia to take care of matters on behalf of PAP.

Since Singapore was no longer part of Malaysia, the People’s Action Party (PAP) could no longer operate in Malaysia. So Kuan Yew instructed Devan Nair to form a new party called DAP as its proxy or PAP’s ‘arm’ in Malaysia. Two months later DAP was launched and shortly after that Kuan Yew asked Kit Siang to return to Malaysia to take care of the party.

The similarity in North Korea’s and DAP’s colours is not by chance

This was what The Rocket wrote on 25th February 2011:

Kit Siang’s initial acquaintance with Neo begun during their secondary school days where they attended the same night school. Their romance blossomed, and the high school sweethearts soon wed after graduation. When their eldest son was born, Kit Siang and the family moved to Singapore, where they had their next two daughters.

Neo recalled Kit Siang coming home after a hard day’s work, he would still help look after the children at night. Things changed when he took up the job as political secretary to Devan Nair. The Lims made a second trek, this time to up north to Kuala Lumpur.

“I did not expect him to leave the lucrative and stable occupation of being a newspaper editor. I was worried how the family would make ends meet. But I knew my husband is a determined man, so I didn’t try to change his mind. I threw my support behind him.”

Thus began the political journey of Kit Siang. As he gave his life for the political struggle, she stood unwavering by his side. Neo recalls the initial days in Kuala Lumpur.

“Devan Nair rented a bungalow in Petaling Jaya for the party headquarters, while we took lodging in one of the rooms. Kit Siang would often leave early in the morning for work and returned late in the evening; I was often worried for his health.”

https://www.therocket.com.my/en/lim-kit-siangs-70th-birthday-mrs-lim-kit-siang/

Kit Siang played the same game with PAS that Kuan Yew played with Umno

It is no coincidence that PAP (People’s Action Party) and DAP (Democratic Action Party) are both ‘moulded’ after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. PAP is as people-centric and DAP is as democratic as North Korea is. And both PAP and DAP favour a republic over a constitutional monarchy — which is why DAP has instructed its leaders to not accept awards and titles from the Malay Rulers or even observe the proper dress code when having an audience with the Rulers. If DAP leaders are forced to wear anything other than western colonial attire they would rather not meet the Rulers.

Kuan Yew was a great admirer of North Korea and Kim Il-sung, who took power in 1948 and soon after that launched a war to ‘take’ South Korea. Kit Siang and Kuan Yew often spoke about how dictatorships would initially meet with opposition and political dynasties would suffer rejection but after some time those born under such regimes end up accepting them. This has been proven by those countries colonised by foreign powers where those who grew up under such governments eventually accept it as a normal way of life.

Kuan Yew had his masterplan for creating his political dynasty, which Kit Siang is very familiar with, and it is from Kuan Yew’s playbook that Kit Siang planned his own political dynasty. Kit Siang knew very well that Kuan Yew did not really want for Singapore to be part of Malaysia. What Kuan Yew wanted was to create a Republic of Singapore free of feudal, Malay domination. But there was no way the British would grant Singapore independence.

Malaysia’s 1969 race riots, a.k.a. ‘May 13’, was designed after the 1964 race riots in Singapore, the fifth riot since 1950

On 2nd April 1955, Singapore held its first election (Malaya, at that time not yet Merdeka, held its first election three months later on 27th July 1955 where the Alliance Party won 51 of the 52 seats). In the April election in Singapore, the Communists won about half the 25 seats contested while PAP won only three seats.

The impression given was that the Communists were taking over Singapore whereas the truth is Kuan Yew made a deal with the Communists where they would take half the seats so as to frighten the British. In short, Kuan Yew gave the Communists those seats then told the British that unless Singapore was granted independence then, in the next election, Singapore was going to fall to the Communists.

The British saw this as a real possibility but they still refused to grant Singapore independence unless it agrees to join Malaya to form Malaysia so that Singapore can be protected under a larger federation and hence stave off the threat of a Communist takeover. Kuan Yew agreed and in the 1963 general election, five days after Singapore became part of Malaysia, PAP swept 37 of the 51 seats contested. The Communists won just 13 seats while the Umno-backed Singapore Alliance party got totally wiped out.

Kuan Yew was smart. He first made a deal with the Communists and used them to frighten the British. He then agreed with the British plan for Singapore to join Malaya to form Malaysia. Once Singapore was out of British rule Kuan Yew antagonised Tunku Abdul Rahman by demanding that he be given the post of Prime Minister of Singapore and not just Chief Minister of Singapore (like in Penang, Melaka, Sabah and Sarawak).

The Tunku replied that Malaysia can have only one Prime Minister, not two Prime Ministers, as Kuan Yew knew would happen. And if Kuan Yew wants to also be the Prime Minister, said the Tunku, then Singapore can leave Malaysia and become an independent republic and Kuan Yew can then become Prime Minister of Singapore.

Kit Siang is the master shit-stirrer and plays the bogeyman political game just like Kuan Yew did

This was precisely what Kuan Yew wanted. Kuan Yew was Machiavellian to the core. First he played out the British. Then he played out his Communist ‘comrades’. Then he played out Tunku Abdul Rahman. And this was where Kit Siang first cut his teeth and learned the art of Machiavellian politics from the grandmaster of them all, Lee Kuan Yew, who ruled Singapore for 52 years and created a political dynasty.

Yes, Kit Siang has been DAP’s dictator for 51 years. Kuan Yew survived 52 years. So Kit Siang would need to wait another year to match Kuan Yew and claim the title of the longest-surviving dictator in the world. And Kit Siang hopes that by next year, year 52, he would be Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister while it-is-not-yet-decided-who is going to be the Prime Minister.

Many underestimate Kit Siang and call him Cina Apek. That would be a gross mistake because Kit Siang has been mentored by Kuan Yew himself. When DAP was first set up two months after Singapore separated from Malaysia, Kuan Yew handpicked Kit Siang as his protégé and asked him to return to Malaysia to take over the running of DAP. And that was because Kuan Yew saw the potential in Kit Siang and knew that he would be able to do the job.

The parallels that DAP and PAP have with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is no coincidence. And the same manner in how Kit Siang and Kuan Yew do things is also not coincidental. Kuan Yew was a master of Machiavellian politics, as is Kit Siang. Kuan Yew used the British, the Chinese, the Communists, the Malays, Umno, Malaysia, and whatever he could lay his hands on to further his political ambitions and create his political dynasty. Kit Siang, in case you may not have noticed, does the same.

DAP’s politics is the politics of hate à la North Korea: hate the Prime Minister, Umno, Barisan Nasional, the Malays, Islam, the Sultans, the Sharia

Kit Siang will exploit anything and everything in the spirit of the end justifies the means. You can see how Kit Siang can turn his enemies into his friends one day and his friends into his enemies the next day, just like what Kuan Yew did to get independence from Britain and later to turn Singapore into a republic. If you know the history of Singapore and Kuan Yew you will be able to see how close that is to the history of DAP and Kit Siang. And this was certainly not by chance but by design.

Kit Siang has learned from Kuan Yew how to take power through lies and deception and by playing the game of perception. Your first step is to lie by saying that what your adversary says are lies and fake news. This is the art of lying by accusing others of lying. The next step is total political exploitation where every single thing will be exploited. And this was precisely how Singapore and the Lee political dynasty came into being, the playbook that Kit Siang is also using.

Raja Petra Kamarudin RPK