SEREMBAN, Aug 21 — DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke today urged all party leaders and members to continue the journey left by the late Dr Chen Man Hin.
In his address today during the funeral service at Dr Chen’s residence, Loke said it is the duty of all DAP members to continue the cause started by the DAP founding chairman.
“I think no one can doubt his sincerity, his determination for a just Malaysian Malaysia for the past 60 years of his political journey.
“So all of us today must continue this journey as leaders and members of a party that was founded by Dr Chen.
“It is our duty to ensure that his journey is continued. All of us have a duty to make sure that the struggle for a just Malaysian Malaysia will continue, as what Dr Chen aspired to when he founded DAP in 1966,” said Loke.
About 500 people, including DAP leaders and members, gathered at Dr Chen’s residence earlier today to pay their last respects to the 98-year-old veteran politician.
In expressing his gratitude, Loke added that the life of Dr Chen was not one that should be mourned but celebrated for he had lived a fulfilling life.
“Although all of us are very sad about the passing of Dr Chen, at the same time we should celebrate his life today.
“He ha completed his life journey after 98 years, a very fulfilling and meaningful life and I think that Dr Chen lived up to the expectations of many principles with the highest integrity and unquestionable loyalty to the cause that he believed in.
“So Dr Chen, rest in peace, you have done your part and you are in a better place now,” said Loke.
Dr Chen, who passed away on August 17, was DAP chairman from 1966 to 1999. He served as a medical doctor in Singapore and Seremban, before opening his own general practice.
He is remembered by DAP veterans as the MP who stood up for the party in Parliament when the entire party’s national leadership was decapitated following the detention of 16 top leaders under the Internal Security Act in 1987 under the infamous Operasi Lalang.
As party chairman Lim Guan Eng recalled in an earlier statement how when Dr Chen was a member of parliament — he had pointed at the home minister in Parliament back then and indicated the empty seats of the detained DAP MPs, shouting angrily that the government was sabotaging democracy by allegedly removing them illegally.
