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OPINION | Pick on Somebody Your Own Size, Guan Eng
18 May 2026 • 7:30 AM MYT
Image credit: Hot FM
Lim Guan Eng and Chow Kon Yeow clashed again at the Penang State Assembly today.
What was it about?
It was about a failed tender proposal, but what they were clashing about is not what I want to talk about here.
So what is it that I want to talk about?
Well, I want to talk about how his repeated rows with Chow are making Lim Guan Eng look.
So how does Lim Guan Eng look?
Well, to cut to the chase, his frequent disputes with Chow are making Guan Eng look like a loser — petty and unbecoming.
Why?
Well, he looks unbecoming because Lim Guan Eng is not only on the same team as Chow, he is also not on the same level as Chow.
DAP, the team that both Lim and Chow belong to, holds 19 of the 40 seats in the Penang State Assembly. If you see Chow and Lim as belonging to PH, then their team holds 27 seats.
If anybody should be attacking Chow over a failed tender proposal in the state assembly, it should be the opposition in the state assembly, not Guan Eng.
And even if Lim feels compelled to raise the matter for the “interest of the people of Penang”, he should raise it in a way that does not sound like he wants to defeat his own teammate.
And even if he truly feels that Chow needs to be defeated, it should be somebody else from the DAP or PH camp in the state assembly who tries to defeat Chow.
Why?
Well, it is because Chow and Guan Eng are not on the same level.
In my previous post, I wrote that Lim Guan Eng and Anthony Loke are the two tigers of DAP, in reference to the Chinese saying that “two tigers cannot share the same mountain.”
Chow is not a DAP tiger. He is more like the zebra of DAP.
So for Lim Guan Eng to feud so frequently with Chow makes Lim Guan Eng look petty. Seeing Lim Guan Eng argue with Chow is like watching a teacher argue with a student over a petty matter, like whether cendol or ABC is the better dessert.
It is not the student who looks embarrassing in such a situation — it is the teacher.
And as much as Lim Guan Eng tries to make his disputes with Chow sound like they are merely part of his job and not personal, everybody who watches their frequent quarrels cannot help but feel that Lim Guan Eng has something personal against Chow.
It is not Chow who seems to have something personal against Lim Guan Eng. It is Lim who appears to have something personal against Chow, because it is Lim who seems to be scouring heaven and earth looking for reasons to pick fights with Chow.
And worse, Lim is now also beginning to look like a loser in these arguments.
Take the argument Lim had with Chow in the state assembly today, for example. Anybody who sees or hears about it is bound to see Lim Guan Eng as the loser.
Why?
Because, like I said, Lim is seen as one of the tigers of DAP. Chow, on the other hand, is more like the zebra of DAP.
In their argument in the state assembly today, I would say the result was somewhat of a draw. But the draw means that Chow won and Lim lost.
Why?
Because when you are the tiger and you choose to confront a zebra, you lose simply because you did not win, while the zebra wins simply because it did not lose.
I think it is about time Lim Guan Eng stopped seeing himself as a loser and behaving in such a bitter, petty, and begrudging manner.
Instead, he should take counsel from the Tamil saying: “Even when it is starving, a lion should not eat grass.”
Taking such counsel, he should stop eating grass and quarreling with zebras over grass patches. He should remember that he is a lion and go pick a fight with somebody his own size.
It would do him good to remember who he is, so that we too can begin seeing him the way he wants to be seen.
Lim Guan Eng and Chow Kon Yeow clashed again at the Penang State Assembly today.
What was it about?
It was about a failed tender proposal, but what they were clashing about is not what I want to talk about here.
So what is it that I want to talk about?
Well, I want to talk about how his repeated rows with Chow are making Lim Guan Eng look.
So how does Lim Guan Eng look?
Well, to cut to the chase, his frequent disputes with Chow are making Guan Eng look like a loser — petty and unbecoming.
Why?
Well, he looks unbecoming because Lim Guan Eng is not only on the same team as Chow, he is also not on the same level as Chow.
DAP, the team that both Lim and Chow belong to, holds 19 of the 40 seats in the Penang State Assembly. If you see Chow and Lim as belonging to PH, then their team holds 27 seats.
If anybody should be attacking Chow over a failed tender proposal in the state assembly, it should be the opposition in the state assembly, not Guan Eng.
And even if Lim feels compelled to raise the matter for the “interest of the people of Penang”, he should raise it in a way that does not sound like he wants to defeat his own teammate.
And even if he truly feels that Chow needs to be defeated, it should be somebody else from the DAP or PH camp in the state assembly who tries to defeat Chow.
Why?
Well, it is because Chow and Guan Eng are not on the same level.
In my previous post, I wrote that Lim Guan Eng and Anthony Loke are the two tigers of DAP, in reference to the Chinese saying that “two tigers cannot share the same mountain.”
Chow is not a DAP tiger. He is more like the zebra of DAP.
So for Lim Guan Eng to feud so frequently with Chow makes Lim Guan Eng look petty. Seeing Lim Guan Eng argue with Chow is like watching a teacher argue with a student over a petty matter, like whether cendol or ABC is the better dessert.
It is not the student who looks embarrassing in such a situation — it is the teacher.
And as much as Lim Guan Eng tries to make his disputes with Chow sound like they are merely part of his job and not personal, everybody who watches their frequent quarrels cannot help but feel that Lim Guan Eng has something personal against Chow.
It is not Chow who seems to have something personal against Lim Guan Eng. It is Lim who appears to have something personal against Chow, because it is Lim who seems to be scouring heaven and earth looking for reasons to pick fights with Chow.
And worse, Lim is now also beginning to look like a loser in these arguments.
Take the argument Lim had with Chow in the state assembly today, for example. Anybody who sees or hears about it is bound to see Lim Guan Eng as the loser.
Why?
Because, like I said, Lim is seen as one of the tigers of DAP. Chow, on the other hand, is more like the zebra of DAP.
In their argument in the state assembly today, I would say the result was somewhat of a draw. But the draw means that Chow won and Lim lost.
Why?
Because when you are the tiger and you choose to confront a zebra, you lose simply because you did not win, while the zebra wins simply because it did not lose.
I think it is about time Lim Guan Eng stopped seeing himself as a loser and behaving in such a bitter, petty, and begrudging manner.
Instead, he should take counsel from the Tamil saying: “Even when it is starving, a lion should not eat grass.”
Taking such counsel, he should stop eating grass and quarreling with zebras over grass patches. He should remember that he is a lion and go pick a fight with somebody his own size.
It would do him good to remember who he is, so that we too can begin seeing him the way he wants to be seen.
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