The new MP for Tangney Sam Lim has been doing the media rounds recently. Most media outlets have been interested in how he was once a dolphin trainer and how he has transformed from a dolphin trainer to a shark trainer now as he is entering the world of “political sharks”. In any case, he seems quite humble talking about his win and his journey to Australia from Malaysia. But one thing everyone needs to realise is that Sam Lim is more than just a dolphin trainer, but he has been a policeman in both his country of birth Malaysia and in Perth, WA. But before his interesting and illustrious career, Lim had a difficult childhood growing up as 1 of 8 children and goring up poor. Here is what he has said when addressing the media:
” I was born in a very poor family. Our roof was always leaking, so when it rained we got a lot of funny noises in the house. And our floor is just earth, and there is no power, no water, so we had to struggle for the first 15 years of my life.”
“But that 15 years built me up till today. And when I went to fight for as a candidate to win the seat, I utilised all that determination again from the first 15 years of my life, and I achieved it.”
Other interesting facts about Sam Lim is that he also worked as a dolphin trainer in Malaysia to make ends meet as his dream career being a policeman in Malaysia paid very little. He says that being a dolphin trainer was one of his favourite jobs:
“I loved it, because dolphins are so genuine. Dolphins never hurt you.”
“If you feel hurt, you jump in the swimming pool, the dolphin will come to you, and try to comfort you. When you go angry, you jump in the pool, they run away. They just can feel it.”
After that part of his life he got into some small businesses and then migrated to Australia in 2002. He joined the WA police in 2006 at a relatively mature 45 years old, and worked with multicultural communities. In 2020 he was named police officer of the year.
And now he is the Federal MP for Tangney and took the seat from former Liberal MP Ben Moreton who was a close buddy of Scott Morrison. Lim also had to beat the odds of a 9.5% margin.
The final thing about Lim is that he can speak 11 languages fluently ( English, Malay and 9 other Chinese languages) – it is common for people of Malaysian and Singaporean background to be able to speak a few Chinese languages, but to speak 11 languages is a first for me hearing of. We will be reaching out to Lim for an interview, so watch this space!
Images via Twitter
honesty is paramount. dialects are not language if so all of us can speak 8-10 languages in malaysia . nothing is further from the truth. as an MP , integrity is important