Tun Dato’ Seri Utama Dr Lim Chong Eu passed away peacefully on Wednesday 24th November 2010, after a short illness. He is survived by his beloved wife, Toh Puan Goh Sing Yeng, children, Lim Chien Aun, Lim Pao Lin, Lim Pao Yen and Lim Chien Cheng, four grandsons and two great grandchildren.Born in Penang on 28th May 1919, CE, as he is known to his friends, was the eldest son of Dr Lim Chwee Leong and Mdm Cheah Swee Hoon. He first went to Hutchings School and later to the Penang Free School.
In 1937 he won the Queen’s scholarship and followed the footsteps of his father to study medicine. He graduated from Edinburgh University with M.B., Ch. B in 1944. After a brief residency in the UK, he took the first ship to China to support China’s post-war reconstruction. He proceeded to Chungking (Chongqing) and saw much war service as an officer of the Chinese Army Medical Service. When the Japanese capitulated in 1945, he joined the teaching staff of the newly established Medical College of the Chinese National Defence Ministry in Shanghai.
In 1947 he returned to Penang with his wife, to practice medicine with his father in the family dispensary, Su-beng Dispensary. From 1950 to 1951, he served as a medical officer in the Malayan Air Force.
CE entered public service in 1951 when he was appointed to the Penang Local Council. In 1955, he was appointed as a member of the Federal Legislature.
An overview of Tun Dr Lim Chong Eu’s political career[1]
As a young medical student in Edinburgh, Scotland, CE was one of the leaders of the London-based United Kingdom and Erie Chinese Students’ Association which actively rallied support for China’s fight against invasion by Japan.
He persuaded fellow qualified Chinese that it was imperative then to go to China to support the reconstruction that would be inevitable after the war. True to his own urgings, he proceeded to wartime China and became a doctor in the ‘good fight’.
He returned to Malaya, specifically to Penang in 1947, and brought with him a new identity, as post-war political developments washed chaotically all over the Malaya.
Leaving behind the sense of being a Chinese in the world, which he was in UK, he now regarded himself a Malayan. This crucial shift in identity was best expressed by the Radical Party he formed with several newfound comrades to contest the George Town Municipal Council elections. As CE used to explain, the party was ‘radical’ inasmuch as its members critically decided that their fate and fortune were firmly rooted in Malayan soil, and not some distant homeland.
He subsequently immersed himself in almost the full range of so-called ‘Chinese politics’. From the Radical Party, he moved to the Malay(si)an Chinese Association. Later, with others, he founded the United Democratic Party, and the Parti Gerakan Rakyat. A member of the pre-Merdeka Legislative Council, he was in the Reid Commission and helped to draft the Malay(si)an Constitution. He acted as the Alliance Whip in the post-Merdeka Parliament.
In 1969, he became the Chief Minister of Penang. He is probably best known for that position because in that capacity he led the transformation of Penang from being a declining entrepôt port to an export-oriented manufacturing centre of the world. Under his leadership, Penang showcased a rare example in the developing world of sustained success in socio-economic transformation.
In his long career, Dr Lim Chong Eu progressed – from being a Penang-born, Straits Settlements-bred, Edinburgh-trained, and China-supporting doctor to becoming a Malaysian politician completely committed to a Malaysian Malaysia.
He was awarded The Order of the Rising Sun Gold and Silver Star by his Majesty Emperor Akihito of Japan, and the Grand Cross Second Class Award by His Excellency the President of Germany.
Universiti Sains Malaysia awarded CE the Honoray Doctorate of Laws, and Edinburgh University awarded him the Doctorate in Honoris Causa.
Post Political Years
Upon retiring from politics, CE recovered lost time with his family. He pursued his love for reading, mastered the use of the computer, began digital compilation of his old notes and even amassed a rather enviable collection of You-tube music videos for his own listening pleasure. He travelled extensively with his wife, especially to her homeland, China, and often visited the horses he bred in New Zealand and Australia. He also took time to research his family roots, going back over 93 generations of Lims.
He continued to read extensively and picked up the habit of watching golf and tennis on television. He developed his garden at home and also in his house in Penang Hill, where he planted flowers and plants to attract the squirrels and birds.
CE remained active in business circles, and was appointed as director to several large corporations including Berjaya Vacation Club Berhad, Sui Wah Corporation Berhad, Southern Steel Berhad, Chin Well HoldingsBerhad, United Overseas Bank (M) Berhad and Q-DOS Holdings Sdn Bhd.
After his retirement from public service, CE was conferred The Darjah Utama Pangkuan Negeri (DUPN) by TYT Yang di Pertua Negeri Pulau Pinang; The Seri Setia Mahkota Malaysia (SSM) by DYMM Yang di Pertuan Agong; and The Darjah Utama Pangkuan Negeri (DUPN) by TYT Yang di Pertua Negeri Pulau Pinang, and The Datuk Amar Bintang Kenyalang (DA) by TYT Yang de Pertua Negeri Sarawak.
CE retired from and set aside partisan politics, but continued to hold his firm belief that ongoing research and development, and education, is vital to the well being of Penang and the nation. He served as pro chancellor of Universiti Sains Malaysia from 1994 to 1999. In 2007, he was appointed as the founding chancellor of the Wawasan Open University.
Having published a book of poems, “The Web Breaks” in 1966, CE reviewed his earlier fictional writings, and at the age of 91, he completed his mythical novel, “The Story of the White Tiger”, which was published in May 2010.
[1] Summarised from unpublished notes by Dr Khoo Boo Teik, May 2009.
