‘Are you Guan Eng?’ Ex-Johor rep laughs off confusion in name

 

Lim Eng Guan, the former Bekok assemblyman, is listed as candidate No 28 in the race for a spot on DAP’s central executive council.

PETALING JAYA: 

Former Johor assemblyman Lim Eng Guan has lost count of how many times he has been asked the same question about his name when handing out his calling card.

They ask him: “Are you related to Guan Eng?” and his answer has always been the same — a smile and a polite “No”.

Despite sharing the same surname, Eng Guan and Guan Eng are not related.

“Sometimes, people even mistake me for Guan Eng outright. They ask, ‘Are you Guan Eng?’ But I don’t mind. I’m happy being associated with a party chief,” he told FMT.

The 46-year-old, who served as the Bekok assemblyman from 2013 to 2018, is a board member of the Johor Port Authority and an ordinary DAP member from the Bukit Gambir branch in the state.

In this year’s DAP central executive committee (CEC) election, his name appears right before Guan Eng’s at No 28 on the candidate list — a coincidence that has not gone unnoticed.

Eng Guan, who joined DAP 25 years ago, admits that sharing a similar name as the party’s former secretary-general has its perks.

Eng Guan’s first meeting with Guan Eng. This photograph was taken at a 2012 DAP event in Johor.

“People remember me more easily because of it,” he said, adding his name has given him social and political visibility within DAP.

But Eng Guan’s dedication to DAP goes beyond being just a familiar name. He insists his passion for the party was entirely his own — uninfluenced by his parents.

As a 13-year-old, he fondly remembers the party’s Bukit Gambir branch office as his “playground”, where he spent countless hours exploring its compound.

Now making his second attempt at securing a spot on the CEC, Eng Guan first contested in the previous term but lost.

Despite the years of mistaken identity, Eng Guan and Guan Eng are acquainted.

He said they first met in 2012 at a DAP event in Labis, Johor, and he has exchanged pleasantries with him ever since.

“He’s a good friend,” he said of the party stalwart. - FMT