KUCHING, April 9 (Bernama) -- He may be a new face at the polls but Prof Dr Sim Kui Hian, the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Pending state here, is no stranger to the demands of public life.
He learned what serving the public meant from his father, the late deputy chief minister Tan Sri Sim Kheng Hong, who was treasurer of the Sarawak United People's Party.
"I followed my parents around, meeting a lot of people. People could drop by the house any time. A lot of people still remember him very well," Dr Sim said.
"Not many people now know this of my father, but one of his greatest qualities was that he didn't speak much, he just served, he worked to produce results. This is what I call real action to create real change," added the 46-year-old renowned cardiologist who is the second youngest of eight siblings.
The SUPP member is adopting his father's ethics with a little twist to project his identity in his slogan for the April 16 state election.
Above the catch phrases of "real action" and "real change" is "real heart" emblazoned in red.
"It's simple, I am a cardiologist, I speak from the heart," said Dr Sim.
Many still shake their heads at his decision to return from Australia after 17 years to his home state and set up from scratch a full fledged cardiac unit at the Sarawak General Hospital.
"I came back from Australia because I find much more value here. If I had stayed on, I would make like six million a year but I came back to serve the country. I spent 10 years to build up the cardiac unit as a doctor but if I want to do more, I have to go beyond that," he said.
Violet Yong, the opposition DAP incumbent in Pending, is aware of the credentials of her rival but insists the bigger picture in the election is not a fight between individuals but between the BN and the opposition.
Dr Sim disagrees.
"This election is about when CM steps down, do the Chinese have any representation in the government or not," he said, referring to the stated intention of Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to bow out in two or three years.
"We are living in Malaysia and if you are not participating in the government of your own choice, how are you going to get involved later on? How are you going to give your input on resource development and resource sharing?"
Dr Sim said the DAP's pitch to voters to change the Taib-led government was nothing new as the party had asked the chief minister to step down at every election.
"In Malaysia, we believe in transformation change, we don't believe in revolution change. CM has said he is stepping down and stated clearly he wants young people in the succession line," Dr Sim added.
The DAP, which won six Chinese majority seats in 2006, are contesting in 15 this time, posing the main challenge to SUPP, which it hopes to replace as the representative of the Chinese.
Dr Sim said the Chinese must look at the reality that they cannot change the government with just 15 of the 71 seats in the state assembly.
"I always tell people if we miss this chance we have to wait for another 20 years. The CM is already 75, when he steps down, the next generation will come in.
"The choice for the Chinese people is: Do you want to choose to stay outside and remain unhappy that you cannot effect change or do you want to be part of the transformation of BN?" he said.
Source: http://www.mysinchew.com/node/55864
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