I read with interest Yin Ee Kiong's letter on the description of Lee Lam Thye as a social activist.

The man in question was the organising secretary of DAP, in effect DAP's No 3 man after Dr Chen Man Hin and Lim Kit Siang. He was also at one time the DAP MP for Bukit Bintang. During the time of Mahathir's tenure, he has crossed the rubicon and became a member of the establishment, including being a director of Sime Darby Bhd, etc.

By no stretch of anyone's imagination can this man be described a social activist unless one means he is a social activist for the establishment not an activist for social change as is commonly meant by the word. It may be correct to describe him a former social activist but then as Russian President Valdimir Putin is fond of saying, "there is no such thing as a former Checkist (meaning KGB)... there are only traitors".

I will leave others more qualified to comment this man's suitability as panel member of the Lingam Tape inquiry. Suffice to say "no man's shall be a judge in his own cause" - the conflict in this case being that Wee Choo Keong (a former DAP MP for Bukit Bintang and presumably Lee's political colleague) was mentioned by Lingam in the tape.