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Forsaking Power For Principles And Love For The Human Race- A Living Malaysian Patriot! Speech - During DAP National Advisor Dr Chen Man Hin’s 80th Birthday Celebrations Organised By DAP Negeri Sembilan State Committee by Lim Guan Eng (Seremban, Tuesday): The Nobel laureate and great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King once said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy.”  Dr Chen certainly measures up as such a man. Forsaking power for principles and love for the human race, Dr Chen is an embodiment of a living Malaysian patriot.   Sdr Dr Chen Man Hin’s gentle demeanour and mild temperament belies his fierce resolve and passion for justice. He has resisted temptations and withstood threats in equal portions that would have broken a lesser man.  Dr Chen stood with the DAP for a Malaysian Malaysia, rejecting racial politics for a Malaysian nationalism that includes Malays, Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and Ibans. At a time when UMNO was calling for Malay unity and MCA Chinese unity, MIC Indian unity, calling for Malaysian unity was somewhat seditious.  Together with other DAP leaders especially his close comrade in arms Sdr Lim Kit Siang and Karpal Singh, Dr Chen never wavered from threats of imprisonment nor faltered from coercion. Again in the 1970s when BN invited DAP to join the government in exchange for giving up our principles, Dr Chen stood together with the DAP leaders in rejecting money politics and the privileges of power. DAP is proud to be Malaysian!  Dr Chen’s fortitude comes not only from his firm belief that DAP’s struggle is correct but also from his faith as a moral and God-fearing man. Dr Chen is a spiritual man. He is blessed not only with good health, a loving wife but also a happy and successful family.  From the scriptures, we learn the value of serving others, of raising the soul by diminishing the self. Dr Chen taught us to serve without expectations of reward. We also learnt from Dr Chen to be inspired by good and ready to be tested by evil.  Let me on the behalf of the younger generation in the DAP assure Dr Chen that your struggles have not been in vain. We shall continue where you left off with your guidance and your encouragement.  Finally let me say that, “There is no greater calling than to serve your fellow men. There is no greater contribution than to help the weak. There is no greater satisfaction than to have it done well.”  You have done well, Dr Chen! To you and your dear and lovely wife, A Very Happy 80th Birthday! (9/11/2004) * Lim Guan Eng, DAP Secretary-General