M.古拉献给林吉祥的生日颂词（新闻稿译本）

行动党怡保西区国会议员M.古拉献给我国资深反对党人林吉祥的生日颂词，引述了法国诗人阿尔弗雷德的名言“优质生活是从一个年轻的梦想在成年时实现开此”，古拉年轻的梦想正是在1974和1978当他年方17岁和19岁开此。

古拉在政治和社会的梦想得以在中年后实现全赖于与吉祥同志的邂逅，后者点燃了古拉的梦想，最终达到一如莎士比亚所说的“到达人生巅峰的赞美”。

由于现代医学的昌明，人类的寿命得以延长，让行动党的同志和热爱民主的人民得以继续受到吉祥同志的照耀，进而实现少年时的梦想。

古拉回忆说吉祥同志第一次点燃他的梦想是在1974年，时直吉祥同志正受到政府引援国家机密法令提控，上述案件对当时正在准备高中考试的古拉造成深远的影响。天幸最终吉祥同志只被罚款1，900马币而成功保住了国会议员的资格，这让古拉和一群关心吉祥同志的朋友得以放下心头大石。

吉祥同志第二次点燃古拉心中火焰是在1978年，同时也改变了古拉欲在毕业后长居英国的决定。当时古拉正要飞往英国修读法律，在前往机场时途径八打灵进入的一间书店闲逛，买了一本吉祥同志著作的“马来西亚的定时炸弹”，并在飞往伦敦的旅程中把书看完。在看过这本著作之后，古拉深深受到吉祥同志的政治远见所感染，以致原本打算在毕业后留在英国的念头完全瓦解。古拉说对这本著作的内容至今依然记忆犹新，也是对他坚持参与我国政治改革的一大原动力。

在我国反对党过去数十年的求变及斗争里，吉祥同志的火光照耀了千千万万一如古拉的年轻人，牵引着他们走上正轨继续为国家的未来作出斗争。

M.古拉
行动党怡保西区国会议员

THE FLAME THAT BURNS BRIGHTLY

A tribute to Lim Kit Siang, the doyen of Malaysian oppositionists By M. Kulasegaran “The good life,” said the French poet Alfred de Vigny “is a dream of youth realized in maturity.”
The dreams of my youth were fired by episodes in 1974 and 1978 when I was 17 and 21 years old respectively.

Their fulfillment in the ripeness of middle age is largely due to my trysts – political and social -- with Lim Kit Siang who ignited those dreams and whose arrival at the point that Shakespeare felt is the summit of a full life we laud today.

Happily for us, medical science has prolonged man’s longevity so that we in the DAP and democracy desiring citizens of our polity can keeping bringing their torches to be lit at the flame that still burns brightly in Kit Siang.

I remember the first lighting of my torch in 1974 while preparing for my Form 5 examinations. It involved the case of Kit Siang’s alleged violation of the Official Secrets Act, a case that was a cause célèbre at that time.

My friends and I breathed a huge sigh of relief when Kit Siang was fined a sum of RM1,900 that did not disqualify him from Parliament.

The second case of my torch’s igniting occurred in 1978 when enroute to Subang for my flight to England for law studies, I paused at a bookshop in Petaling Jaya and there saw and purchased a copy of ‘Time Bombs in Malaysia’, Kit Siang’s prophesy of disquiet-to-come in our beloved country.
On the long flight to London, I read the book and almost immediately began to rescind a prior decision I had made not to return to the country of my birth after my law studies for reason of its discriminatory policies.

That book still resonates in my memory and has kept my flame for the political reformation of the country burning brightly.

In the forests of the Malaysian opposition’s struggle for the reform of their country, the torch held aloft for nearly four decades by Lim Kit Siang has burned brightly, lighting the path for thousands such as I who have struggled to find their feet in the often bewildering and shifting sands of time.

M.Kula Segeran
MP for Ipoh Barat