INTERVIEW | Lim Kit Siang joined DAP in 1966 at the age of 25. He would then spend the next 52 years as one of Malaysia’s most prolific opposition figures.

Lim has been elected as an MP 11 times, represented seven parliamentary constituencies and sat in three state legislative assemblies.

On May 9, at the ripe age of 77, he had finally reached a career milestone which he once thought was impossible - sitting on the government bench.

“When we started, we never thought about being an MP, state government or federal government. As we went along, this became necessary, as part of the political achievement process.

“But I never thought that I would be able to see a change in the federal government,” Lim told Malaysiakini.

Lim has been the driving force of DAP since joining the party a year after it was formed in 1965. By 1969, he held the party’s top position - secretary-general - for 30 years until his first electoral defeat in 1999.

At the height of the 1MDB scandal in 2016, he joined forces with his one-time foe Dr Mahathir Mohamad, planting the seeds for what is now Pakatan Harapan - the ruling coalition of Malaysia today...