For someone who declared that he did not want to get into political discussion, former Penang chief minister Dr Lim Chong Eu did exactly the opposite when delivering a lecture that was highly political - the first since his retirement in 1990.

He was speaking at the 3rd Penang Lecture Series themed 'Building on Penang's Strengths: Going Forward' last Saturday, organised by the Socio-economic and Environment Research Institute.

The lecture drew people from all sides of the political divide - even members of opposition parties PAS, DAP and Keadilan were present to hear Lim's take on the future of Penang.

"Today, we have reached a new critical divide in the history of our 48-year-old nation, when our people must all think, plan and act as Malaysians and not in terms of ethnicity, or even in terms of state-based origin," he told some 800 people including Penang Governor Abdul Rahman Abbas.

"We have become Rakyat Malaysia , bound together by a common national destiny. Indeed, it will be as Rakyat Malaysia that we shall move our nation forward to achieve the social and economic objectives of Vision 2020."

He went into detail on the history of Penang, British rule, the racial riots of May 13, 1969, and the state's socially and politically despondency in 1969 when Penang's free port status was withdrawn by the federal government.

It was also a time when the unemployment rate was at 16.4 percent, the world economy was in recession and the Royal Australian Army Force was planning to move out of the Butterworth airbase.

Fresh directions mooted

Lim then suggested several directions that Penang could take to optimise its resources, including

setting up a modern duty-free cargo international air terminal and a northern economic-financial hub to complement the Kuala Lumpur-Putrajaya centre.

Other ideas included the development of business and financial complexes, special processing zones, educational institutions and medical facilities linked to broadband and optic-fibre IT telecommunications networking.

He ascribed the "ethical synopsis" of his involvement in political activity to a firm belief that the "people who had the right to vote and thereby the right to choose and elect persons to represent their interests, deserve the kind of government which determines the administrative, economic and social services rendered for them".

"I was defeated in the very first political elections that I took part in as a candidate. It is local history that, subsequently, I won several terms of office through elections. And in the end, it was the people themselves who kindly set me free from politics, when I was defeated in the last elections that I participated in," he said.

"So, it is my firm conviction that the people themselves who elected my colleagues and me to hold office in the state of Penang, have made Penang what it has become today."

Useful input

Responding to his speech, event committee chairperson Sharom Ahmat said Lim's hindsight and vision for the future would be useful when the state government starts planning the second phase of its strategic development plans up to 2010.

"He turned this agro-based state into a vibrant economy and brought down the unemploment rate of 16.4 percent during his tenure as chief minister," he said.

"We were only recently talking about 'Towering Malays' but some decades ago, we already produced a Towering Malaysian (and) that is Lim Chong Eu."

David Gan, a participant who is involved in the Small Malaysian Industries Association, said he respects Lim for his contributions to Penang, saying the situation has since worsened.

It has recorded a poorer performance in relation to tourism and trade due to the loss of its free port status and relocation of multinational companies to neighbouring countries because of the economic downturn.

"He was a true leader who stood his ground, unlike the ones we have now who is only interested in pleasing Umno. They would never even dream of saying 'No' to Umno, let alone oppose anything Umno does," said Gan.

Lim, now 85, had led a colourful political life after being appointed to the Penang legislative council in 1949 and to the Penang executive council in 1950, where he first met (later premier) Abdul Razak Hussein at the meetings of the finance committee.

He founded the Radical Party in 1951 which won the first municipal council elections in George Town, the capital of Penang. In 1958, he was elected the MCA president but resigned in 1961, after which he founded the United Democractic Party.

This subsequently changed its name to Gerakan, which was an opposition party until it joined the ruling coalition Alliance government in 1970.

Lim led Gerakan to victory in the 1969 Penang state elections and was chief minister until he stepped down in 1990.

He has been dubbed 'the architect of Penang' as he turned the state from an agro-based economy to a highly successful industrialised one with the setting up of the Free Trade Zones in the early 1970s.