Lim Lian Geok memorial, KL - Chinese educationist

Some time ago, when I was taking photos in the Kwong Tong cemetery in Kuala Lumpur, I made a point of looking at the Lim Lian Geok memorial. This is at the start of the cemetery near the Alice Smith School. At that time I didn't know anything about Lim Lian Geok, who is regarded as the most revered Chinese educationist in Malaysia.

In April 2015, Hong invited me to join him on a visit to the LLG memorial in KL, so I readily agreed. This memorial is at LLG: 89 & 91, Jalan Maharajalela in KL, not far from the Chinese Assembly Hall.

We were given a tour of the exhibits about Lim Lian Geok, housed on the 4th floor. The displays were in Chinese, Malay and English.

Lim Lian Geok, (1901-1985) was a revered Chinese educationist and was the pioneer of the civil society movement in Malaysia.

He arrived in Malaya in 1927 but then went to Java for a while and also back to China.

trunk with clothes used by Lim

 

He was a teacher at the Confucian School in KL from 1935-1961. In 1951 he was active in the protest against the Barnes Report that wanted to abolish Chinese and Tamil schools. This led to the formation of the United Chinese Schools Teachers' Association and Lim became president from 1953.

Extract from the Barnes Report / Education Ordinance 1952

In his Hari Raya Aidifitri message in 1956, he said "Every ethnic community should be accepted as a member of this nation's family, equal in their rights and in their national duty. They should share the nation's abundance and stand together to face all challenges in building a strong and sound nation."

At that time he was a supporter of Malay mother tongue eduction.

He wanted all citizens of Malaya to be united and work together to build the nation. He advocated that Malayan Chinese must be loyal to the country and the Chinese school text books must reflect the true situation in Malaya.

Lim was aware of the socio-economic disparity between ethnic groups and that those groups lagging behind was due to the colonial government's economic segregation policy. Believing in equality he urged the government to address this difference.

He was opposed to the 1960 Razak Report and 1961 Education Act that required all secondary schools to teach in English or Malay.

As a result, his citizenship and teaching permit were revoked by the government due to his strong
opposition against conversion of Chinese secondary schools. 54 out of 70 Chinese schools converted to 'national type secondary schools'. However he refused to return to China.

When he died in 1985 his funeral procession in KL was the largest ever seen for any Malaysian Chinese. He was honoured by the Malaysian Chinese.

In his honour, the LLG Cultural Development Centre was set up. One of their objectives is "To promote mother tongue education and foster traditional ethnic cultures".

The last part of the display is a long way with 'cartoon' pictures depicting the history of Malaya during Lim's time -

See more on the LLG Cultural Development Centre.