If Zahid Hamidi listens to Lim Kit Siang’s unsolicited advice on “How to be a good Opposition Leader”, I’m afraid it might take BN 50 years instead of five to take back Putrajaya. BN does not have such luxury. Kit Siang was lucky, he had all the time in the world. The DAP stalwart was Opposition leader for a record three times, spanning 30 years. Including a 24-year uninterrupted stretch from 1975 to 1999, which must have been some kind of a world record or something.
Despite this long tenure, the Opposition made very little headway under Kit Siang. In fact, it became weak and it suffered many humiliations, especially during Mahathir Mohamad’s era (Prime Minister, 1981-2003). If Kit Siang had been a good Opposition leader, the voters would have kept him. Instead, at the 1999 polls, they showed him the door. Lim led the Opposition for the last time from 2004 to 2008 and had better luck in the 12th general election, but only because he and the Opposition had help from Dr Mahathir, who was going after Pak Lah, the Prime Minister then.
If Kit Siang had been a good Opposition leader, we the people wouldn’t be paying through our noses for our highways today. And Mahathir would not get to create the IPPs for his cronies. And Penangites would still be taking the ferry to go to the mainland. Just to mention a few.
No, Zahid will be better off creating his own brand as Opposition Leader. I hope he does not oppose just for the sake of opposing, which was what Kit Siang was all about. The Leader of the Opposition must provide check and balances, call a spade a spade, tamper the new Government’s over-eagerness with the realities on the ground. Put the people first, as Tony Fernandes would say, and everything would fall into place.
# Leader of the Opposition Political party Term of office Prime Minister Refs Took office Left office 1 Burhanuddin al-Helmy
(1911–1969)
MP for BesutPMIP 1959 1964 Tunku Abdul Rahman 2 Tan Chee Khoon
(1919–1996)
MP for BatuSF(LPM) 1964 1969 - Position vacant 1969 1971 Abdul Razak Hussein 3 Mohamed Asri Muda
(1923–1992)
MP for Pasir PutehPMIP 1971 1973 4 Lim Kit Siang
(b. 1941)
MP for Bandar MalaccaDAP 30 January 1973 31 July 1974 [2] 5 James Wong
(1922–2011)
MP for Miri-LubisSNAP 1974 1974 6 Edmund Langgu Saga
(b. 1936)
MP for SaratokSNAP 4 November 1974 4 November 1975 [3] (4) Lim Kit Siang
(b. 1941)
MP for Kota Melaka (1975-1978)
MP for Petaling (1978–1982)
MP for Kota Melaka (1982-1986)
MP for Tanjong (1986–1999)DAP 4 November 1975 12 June 1978 [4] Hussein Onn 31 July 1978 29 March 1982 [5] Mahathir Mohamad 10 July 1982 19 July 1986 [6] 8 October 1986 4 October 1990 [7] 10 December 1990 6 April 1995 [8] 15 June 1995 10 November 1999 [9] 7 Fadzil Noor
(1937–2002)
MP for PendangPAS 20 December 1999 23 June 2002 [10] 8 Abdul Hadi Awang
(b. 1947)
MP for MarangPAS 9 September 2002 4 March 2004 [11] Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (4) Lim Kit Siang
(b. 1941)
MP for Ipoh TimorDAP 19 May 2004 13 February 2008 [12] 9 Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
(b. 1952)
MP for Permatang PauhPKR 30 April 2008 28 August 2008 [13][14] 10 Anwar Ibrahim
(b. 1947)
MP for Permatang PauhPKR 28 August 2008 3 April 2013 [15] Najib Razak 26 June 2013 16 March 2015 [16][17] (9) Wan Azizah Wan Ismail
(b. 1952)
MP for Permatang PauhPH(PKR) 18 May 2015 10 May 2018 [18] 11 Najib Razak
(b. 1953)
MP for Pekan & Former Prime Minister of MalaysiaBN(UMNO) 10 May 2018 12 May 2018 Mahathir Mohamad [19] 12 Ahmad Zahid Hamidi
(b. 1953)
MP for Bagan Datuk & Former Deputy Prime Minister of MalaysiaBN(UMNO) 12 May 2018 Incumbent