The following is an exclusive excerpt from Chapter 4 of ‘Lim Kit Siang: Malaysian First, Volume One: None But the Bold’, a new biography by Kee Thuan Chye.

“Kit was of average height, fair and skinny with thick, heavy-rimmed spectacles and a slightly pock-marked face. He sported a unique hairstyle, combed straight backwards without a parting, and had short spiky hair protruding on both sides of his head.”

That is how Kit’s long-time friend Michael Ong described Kit’s look in the second half of the 1950s when he was at High School Batu Pahat.

Kit chose to wear that combed-back hairstyle because, as he himself says, it was “easy, not bothersome, and you don’t have to divide your hair”. He still sports it to this day.

“It’s a very simple hairstyle,” remarks another old buddy, Tan Tik Seng. “And he wasn’t the sort to follow fashion.”

Kit didn’t fancy being in the limelight either. “Many of the things that he organised for classmates, he would do by staying in the background. He would suggest the idea, do the work, contribute his effort, but he would let others get the attention,” explains Tik Seng.

“At school, we engaged in a lot of activities, like putting up concerts and sketches, and he was very actively involved. But for the work he put in, he would not take the credit. I know this very well because I was also involved.”

Kit affirms this. “I think I’m more of an introvert than an extrovert. Extroverts are those who enjoy meeting people. I don’t really enjoy that. I prefer to be on my own...