In a new book, former Media Prima Berhad group managing editor Ashraf Abdullah remembers Lim as “a medical doctor by training, a chain-smoker by choice, and a walking contradiction by nature”.
“He loathed being told to stop smoking, especially by those less qualified than him,” Ashraf writes in Surviving the Newsroom.
So when then health minister Lee Kim Sai told him to stub out his cigarette, Lim is said to have retorted:
“’You are a health minister who’s not a doctor telling me, a doctor, not to smoke. Do you see anything wrong with me?’”
Just then Mahathir appeared. Lim quickly tossed his cigarette and saluted his boss, Ashraf writes.
“This person is a qualified doctor. Cannot fool around,” Lim is quoted as saying.
On another occasion, Lim was said to have been enjoying a cigarette in the company of a group of reporters when Mahathir “suddenly appeared from nowhere”.
“Too late to get rid of his cigarette, he just passed it to one of his officers and proceeded to lecture him on the ‘hazards of smoking’.”
“’You shouldn’t be smoking, young man. It’s bad for your lungs,’ Lim told the confused officer.
“Mahathir went over to the officer and calmly said: ‘Give it (the cigarette) back to your boss’,” Ashraf recounts.
Lim, who according to the book was beloved by journalists for his many memorable quotes and generosity, was also remembered for another distinct feature — hyper salivation.
This meant that he was prone to splattering saliva while talking, something Lim was himself well aware of.
According to Ashraf, a rookie reporter once stood very close to Lim, prompting Lim to say: “You must be new. Didn’t they tell you?”
The reporter was initially puzzled, Ashraf writes, but understood soon enough.
Lim, who led Gerakan for 27 years between 1980 and 2007, served as primary industries minister (1986 – 2004) and energy, water and communications minister (2004 – 2006) when Barisan Nasional was in power.
He died in 2012, aged 73.
Surviving The Newsroom retails at RM34.90, excluding delivery charges.
Readers interested in purchasing the book can contact Ashraf Abdullah at 019-2812213.