Lim Chong Eu - Political Career

Political Career

In 1951, he was appointed to the Penang Local Council and in 1955, was appointed a member of the Federal Legislature.

In the March 1958 party elections, he challenged Tun Tan Cheng Lock and won the presidency with a majority of 22 votes.

After the victory, he called an extraordinary general meeting to amend the Constitution to consolidate the power of the Central Committee. This was met with strong resistance by Tun Tan Siew Sin and his supporters.

Although the proposal was passed with a single-vote majority, the move left the Party split. At the same time, the MCA under Lim also had severe political differences with the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman.

The crisis worsened especially on the eve of the 1959 general elections when Lim demanded 40 parliamentary seats and also wanted to make Chinese an official language.

The Tunku increased the seats allocated to MCA from 28 to 31 but this was rejected and their relationship worsened.

During the one-year period when the MCA was under Lim, the party was under tremendous pressure from within and outside. In December 1960, Lim left the MCA and in 1962, he formed the United Democratic Party. Dr Cheah Toon Lock became the Acting President with the resignation of Lim.

He was one of the founding members of the Opposition Party Gerakan before the 1969 General Election. The formation the of Gerakan party threw the Chinese Malaysian aggregate into a dilemma, weakened their political strength and above all, eroded the political representation of the MCA as the only party for the Chinese community. Gerakan joined the ruling Barisan Nasional after winning the Penang State Government in 1969.