by Lim Guan Eng, Secretary General of the DAP
DAP mourns the passing of another DAP parliamentarian Teluk Intan MP, Seah Leong Peng, who died of cancer at the relatively young age of 48, on 1 May 2014. Seah as he is popularly known , was a loyal DAP grassroots activist who joined DAP on 31 May 1995. Seah had joined DAP at the party’s lowest ebbs, after suffering one of the party’s worst electoral defeats in the 25th April 1995 general elections.
A talented grassroots activist, Seah was instrumental in providing the machinery and organisational manpower that enabled DAP to achieve a shocking upset victory by DAP’s M.Kulasegaran during the Teluk Intan by-election in May 1997. DAP had turned around a BN majority of 13,968 in the 1995 general election to a DAP majority of 2,916 in the 1997 by-election.
Seah subsequently stood and won the Pasir Bedamar state seat in Teluk Intan town in the 1999 general elections, which he defended successfully in 2004 and 2008 general elections. He switched to and won the Teluk Intan parliamentary seat in the 2013 general elections.
A true DAP loyalist, Seah was also a friend. He had stood by the party in our darkest days whether from crushing electoral reverses or from the mindless persecution and prosecution of DAP leaders by the BN totalitarian government. He was an idealist and a fighter, who refused to bow down to threats and a determined defender of the underdog in his 19 years with the party and 15 years as a wakil rakyat.
In his quiet service to the party and the people, Seah had only discovered he was suffering from end stage cancer in February this year. When I last saw him in the Kuala Lumpur General Hospital, he looked positive and determined to fight this latest battle. He spoke about future plans and we never expect to lose him so quickly. His death will not only be a personal loss but also a loss to the party, people and the nation.
Seah will be sorely missed and the DAP wishes to extend our deepest condolences to his wife and family. I was in Bangkok for a short break with my family when Seah passed away, but will be rushing back to attend his funeral at 10 am Saturday 3 May 2014 in Teluk Intan.
Seah, third from right, together with other Perak State Assemblymen during their swearing in to the State Legislative Assembly
Very sad to see that DAP has lost another good man after Karpal Singh, we, rakyat, really hope the current DAP Leaders be at the National or State Level, do work together as comrades and be not have the own selfish agenda. Don’t let the saying of “old” applies “Good people die young and bad people live long to replenish the earth with “bad” fruits! Strange, we might think, politically, DAP is “rising” and getting more support but tragedies have befallen on the party quite recently. DAP Leaders, regardless of your personal faith and belief, do ponder for a second, is it a coincidence or something beyond our human imagination some of these events have happened. If there is a belief that the ‘UNKNOWN’ has something to let the DAP Leaders know!