DAP’s long march to Bukit China

The following is an exclusive excerpt from Chapter 33 of ‘Lim Kit Siang: Malaysian First, Volume One: None But the Bold’, a new biography by Kee Thuan Chye.

The police continued to hound the DAP’s ‘Save Bukit China’ activities [in 1984]. Another one they targeted was the cyclethon from Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, to Bukit China [a hilltop cemetery in Malacca].

Tan Kok Wai, who was then national secretary of DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) and organising chairman of the cyclethon, remembers that occasion to be “quite an experience”.

Vincent Wu Him Ven, who was at the time a teenager and a bright-eyed supporter of the DAP, also has memories of the event. It is particularly memorable for him because that was when he met his idol, Lim Kit Siang, for the first time.

Early that morning, Vincent, Kok Wai, Ronnie Liu and a group of cyclists set off from Cheras, led by Lee Lam Thye and Liew Ah Kim, who was the secretary of the ‘Save Bukit China’ national campaign’s committee.

As it was a relay event, other participants followed in a bus while waiting for their turn to ride. They were joined by more participants as they passed the towns along the route. One of those who joined from Tampin was Robert Ang.

All went well until they were stopped by police at Pulau Sebang in Alor Gajah. The police seized their bicycles and their bus on the allegation that the group was taking part in an...