“Terima kasih, xie xie” – Johor Born Australian Politician Thanks M’sian Supporters in BM & Chinese

Regardless of where we go and how much we have travelled around the world and fallen in love with other countries one fact remains – we’ll always be proud Malaysians.

An Australian Member of Parliament (MP) who was born in Malaysia recently proved the same thing when he decided to express his gratitude to Malaysians in the first two languages that he has learned – Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese language. He proudly did so in the Australia Federal Parliament.

Gratitude for Malaysians and Chinese community around the globe

During his inaugural speech, Sam Lim, the MP for Tangney, Australia kickstarted by delivering his thank you speech in Malaysia’s national language. Here’s what Sam expressed in Bahasa Melayu.

“To all the Malaysians in Australia and around the world, thank you for all the attention and love that you have given me. Not to forget, thank you for all your support during the election in Australia as well. Thank you all.”

Sam’s gratitude did not end there. He also had a message for the Chinese community around the globe.

“To my Chinese brothers and sisters around the world, thank you for all the care and wishes. Thank you for all your support during the election period in Australia.”

At the beginning of his speech, Sam also said that words were not enough to express his gratitude, but those were all he had. You can listen to his thank you speech here, which was retweeted by Tim Watts, the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs in Australia, and also the full speech here on YouTube.

Born in Johor & once with the force

According to his personal website, Sam was born in Johor in 1961 and he is the eldest among 7 other siblings. But what not many of us may have guessed is that Sam used to be with the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) for a couple of years as a Police Constable.

His career before being Tangney’s MP did not start immediately.

After leaving PDRM, he used to be a dolphin trainer before running a few small businesses in both Malaysia and Australia.

It’s truly admirable to see a proud Malaysian on the other side of the world who is not ashamed to express his feelings in his mother tongue, as well as our national language. 

Also read: WATCH: Kedah Makcik Speaks Flawless Hokkien Like a Native Speaker & M’sians are Amused