WE often read or hear advice from motivational speakers to “think outside the box”. It’s given with the intention of improving our work performance for better quality service or higher productivity, to reduce the cost of doing things and for us not to be trapped in outmoded thinking or the business-as-usual mindset.
Taking a cue from this, I am taking the liberty here in this column, which is already 11 years old now, to propose that our social activist extraordinaire Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye be appointed the next Datuk Bandar or Mayor of Kuala Lumpur.
All this while, the key position as chief executive of the nation’s largest local government authority, Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur or Kuala Lumpur City Hall, better known by its acronym DBKL, has been the domain of civil servants.
Civil servants by their training are basically desk-bound and concerned about bureaucracy or red tape and policy matters.
We should emulate other major cities who appoint their mayors from among outstanding public personalities outside the civil service at some point in time, instead of a mayor of the nation’s capital being always a civil servant. As I mentioned at the outset, think out of the box.
After being Member of Parliament par excellence for Bukit Bintang right at the heart of Kuala Lumpur for four terms followed by over 30 years as a social worker, Lee certainly has a full grasp of the multifarious problems and issues affecting Kuala Lumpur. And he is deeply passionate about finding solutions to these problems.
His friendly and down-to-earth approach will help tremendously and naturally in engaging the community to jointly discuss issues affecting city folk.
Making Kuala Lumpur a more liveable city is a matter closest to his heart.
His understanding of City Hall administration, having previously been the longest serving board member of the DBKL Advisory Council under five mayors, makes Lee a perfect fit as the next mayor.
Kuala Lumpur needs a breath of fresh air at the level of Datuk Bandar and Lee’s leadership will enable him to guide and motivate DBKL officers to serve all city folks with greater commitment.
As a social activist who has worked tirelessly for a better Malaysia for over 50 years cutting across race and religion, Lee is without comparison to any other Malaysian.
From anti-drug campaigns to crime prevention to the one closest to his heart, which is occupational safety and health, and more, he never seems to run out of energy. It’s always the people first.
Not to mention the key charitable foundations that he chairs to help the poor and underprivileged.
If there is a true-blue Malaysian hero, he is Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye.
Only he knows how he can find the time to be always on the move to attend various functions and meetings daily, while showing no signs of slowing down.
His latest public involvement is in mental health education and promotion.
Mental health issues are a steeply rising concern in Malaysia and are the root causes of domestic violence and crimes, including some of the goriest murders.
Lately, Lee has kept himself even busier by conducting dialogue sessions to promote good mental health.
“There is no health without mental health,” he told me.
He has just been appointed a member of the Mental Health Promotion Advisory Council chaired by the Health Minister.
Not only are the poor and underprivileged close to his heart, but he is also an animal lover who will always share his sadness with his aides whenever he reads about animal abuse or roadkills.
For the record, Lee fought tirelessly for the Animal Welfare Act to be drafted and tabled in Parliament, and his effort bore fruit when the Act was passed in Parliament in 2015.
Abandoned pets or pet abuse is rampant in a big city like Kuala Lumpur and if he becomes Mayor, it goes without saying that he will make a huge difference in animal welfare, too.
Lee has won numerous awards for public service but the one that he cherished most was when he was bestowed the Maulidur Rasul Award in 2019 in conjunction with the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday celebration.
“This award came as a total surprise to me. I never expected it. It’s a recognition of my years of serving the people irrespective of race, colour or creed,” he said.
It’s worth noting here that when a fire razed an Islamic religious school or Tahfiz dormitory at Kampung Datuk Keramat in Kuala Lumpur in the wee hours of Sept 14, 2017, Lee was among the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy which killed 22 students and a teacher, who were sleeping at the time.
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, in which he was the then chairman, later distributed a safety guidebook to all such schools.
“This particular award that I received is very important for me as a public servant for Malaysians of all races,” said Lee.
But it was the all-around praise from Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah for Lee when His Royal Highness launched the biography Call Lee Lam Thye recently that tops it all and had the guests present admiring Lee even more.
“I have witnessed with my very own eyes how impressive his many years of serving the rakyat are. Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye is actually a real YB which can be translated also as Yang Bekerja (one who works) and Yang Berkhidmat (one who serves).
“Lee has shown us what a ‘YB’ should be. There is no use having the title if one does not serve the people,” said the Sultan.
As a journalist of 50 years standing, it’s not far-fetched for me to conclude that all Malaysians are looking forward to Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye as the next Datuk Bandar of our loving capital city.
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