Lim Guan Eng is new Finance Minister
GEORGE TOWN, May 12 (Bernama) -- Lim Guan Eng who has been appointed as Finance Minister under the Pakatan Harapan government led by Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, is one of the most vocal politicians in the Dewan Rakyat.
The DAP secretary-general, was named as one of Asiaweek's leaders for the millennium in politics, in 1999.
Born in Johor on Dec 8, 1960, Lim, the eldest child to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang and his wife, Neo Yoke Tee, received his early education at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) La Salle in Petaling Jaya and later SK Montfort before continuing secondary education at Batu Pahat High School and Melaka High School.
In 1985, Lim pursued further studies in accounting and economics at Monash University in Australia where he later graduated with a Bachelor's in Economics.
Prior to his political career, Lim was a senior bank executive. He is married to Betty Chew Gek Cheng and the couple has four children.
Lim's career in politics began when he won the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat in 1986 after defeating Malaysia's football team captain, Soh Chin Aun with a 17,606-vote majority.
In Oct 1987, he was detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) following 'Operasi Lalang' but was released in April 1989 after 18 months in custody.
He was later appointed as DAP Publicity assistant chief and he successfully defended the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat for three terms until 1995.
In 1997, while holding the position of DAP deputy secretary-general, Lim was found guilty by the High Court for maliciously printing false information.
After a series of appeals, Lim was sentenced to 36 months by the Court of Appeal in 1998.
Subsequently he lost the Kota Melaka parliamentary seat and was not eligible to contest in the 2004 general election.
Lim, who was appointed as DAP secretary-general in 2004, won the Bagan parliamentary seat in 2008 defeating Song Choy Leng (BN) with a majority of 22,070 votes.
In that year he also won the Air Putih state seat after defeating Tan Yoke Cheng with a 4,061-vote majority.
Following DAP's massive victory in Penang in GE12, the party succeeded in forming the state government and Lim was appointed as the chief minister.
In GE13, Lim defended the Air Putih state seat and continued to lead the Penang government based on the concept of Competency, Accountability and Transparency (CAT).
In the GE14 last Wednesday, Lim retained the Air Putih state seat with a majority of 7,958 votes and the Bagan parliamentary seat with a 43,902-vote majority.
-- BERNAMA
