Sam Lim
{{Short description|Australian politician (born 1961)}}
{{distinguish|Samboy Lim}}
{{Use Australian English|date=May 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Sam Lim
| native_name =
| native_name_lang = zh
| honorific_suffix = MP
| image =
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| parliament = Australian
| constituency_MP = Tangney
| status =
| term_start = 21 May 2022
| term_end =
| predecessor = Ben Morton
| successor =
| birth_name = Bon Cheng Lim
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1961|06|06|df=y}}
| birth_place = Muar, Johor, Federation of Malaya
| citizenship = Australia (2008–present)
Malaysia (until 2021)
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| party = Australian Labor Party
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| occupation = {{csl|Dolphin trainer|police officer}}
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| website = {{url|https://www.samlim.com.au/}}
| module = {{Infobox police officer
|embed = yes
|allegiance = {{flag|Western Australia}}
|department = Western Australia Police Force
|branch = Community and Coordination, Community Engagement Division
|serviceyears = 2006–2022
|rank = Senior Constable
|awards = Officer of the Year, WA Police Excellence Awards (2020)}}
}}
Bon Cheng Lim ({{zh|c=林文清}};{{cite news |title=【专访】林文清：从会说10种语言的华裔警官到国会议员 |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/chinese/mandarin/zh-hans/audio/sam-lim-unexpectedly-wrested-tangney-from-ben-morton |access-date=26 February 2022 |work=SBS Your Language |date=14 February 2022 |language=zh-hans}} born 6 June 1961), better known as Sam Lim, is a Malaysian-born Australian politician. Lim was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 2022 to represent the Division of Tangney in Western Australia.{{cite news |last1=Zimmerman |first1=Josh |title=Ben Morton set to become ScoMo's fall guy |url=https://thewest.com.au/politics/federal-election/federal-election-2022-ben-morton-counts-on-nothing-in-his-safe-tangney-seat-on-his-big-job-interview-day-c-6876257 |access-date=21 May 2022 |work=The West Australian |date=21 May 2022 |language=en}}{{cite news |title=Western Australia goes all in on red – and it could deliver Labor majority government |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/22/western-australia-goes-all-in-on-red-and-it-could-deliver-labor-majority-government |access-date=21 May 2022 |work=the Guardian |date=21 May 2022 |language=en}} He held the seat in the 2025 election.
Biography
Lim was born on 6 June 1961 in Muar in the Federation of Malaya,{{Cite web |title=Muar-born former cop Sam Lim is elected an Australian MP |url=https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/national/muar-born-former-cop-sam-lim-is-elected-an-australian-mp/ar-AAXAqvP|access-date=2022-05-23 |website=MSN |publisher=Free Malaysia Today}} the eldest of eight siblings in a Malayan Chinese family. He lived for 15 years in a house with almost no electricity, no floor, and a leaking roof. His childhood dream was to be a policeman, so he became a constable in the Royal Malaysia Police in the 1980s after completing his Malaysian Certificate Examination. However, the low pay rates and weak state of the Malaysian ringgit meant that he could not share his income with his parents. Instead, after two years with the police, he worked as a dolphin trainer at a safari park in Johor for five years, a job that Lim described as his "best job ever".{{cite web|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-22/sam-lims-rise-from-dolphin-trainer-to-federal-tangney-mp/101089566|title=Sam Lim's unlikely rise from dolphin trainer to federal Tangney MP|publisher=ABC News|date=22 May 2022}} The safari park closed down later, and Lim moved into small business.
Lim decided to leave Malaysia and emigrate to Australia in 2005, planning to retire with his family. Shortly after his move in 2006 however, Lim abandoned his plans to retire and continued his police dream by joining the Western Australia Police Force. During his time in the police force, he worked at Perth, Karratha, Eucla and Fremantle.{{cite news |author=Marta Pascual Juanola |agency= |title=Multilingual officer's fight against misinformation earns top WA Police excellence award |url=https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/multilingual-officer-s-fight-against-misinformation-earns-top-wa-police-excellence-award-20201210-p56mcz.html |quote= |newspaper=WA Today |date=2020-12-10 |access-date=2022-06-01 }} He was later transferred to the department's Perth headquarters in 2017, and was handed the responsibility of assisting multicultural Asian groups. He was awarded Officer of the Year at the Nine News Police Excellence Awards in December 2020 for his role in pandemic outreach through translating COVID-19 announcements for multiple communities.{{cite news|last=Chen|first=Helen|title=Officer who speaks 10 languages wins top police award for pandemic outreach|url=https://www.sbs.com.au/chinese/english/audio/officer-who-speaks-10-languages-wins-top-police-award-for-pandemic-outreach|accessdate=22 May 2022|work=SBS Mandarin|publisher=SBS|date=29 January 2021}}
Lim speaks ten languages, including Malay, Mandarin Chinese and Indonesian.{{cite news |author=Angus Thompson |agency= |title=From cop to dolphin trainer to MP – and why Sam Lim thinks Gough Whitlam is God |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/from-cop-to-dolphin-trainer-to-mp-and-why-sam-lim-thinks-gough-whitlam-is-god-20220531-p5apza.html |quote= |newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald |date=2022-05-31 |access-date=2022-06-01 }}{{Cite web |title=Officer who speaks 10 languages wins top police award for pandemic outreach |url=https://www.sbs.com.au/language/english/audio/officer-who-speaks-10-languages-wins-top-police-award-for-pandemic-outreach |access-date=2022-06-08 |website=SBS Language |language=en}} He is part of the Labor Right faction, which is more economically and socially conservative.{{cite web |last1=Massola |first1=James |title=The power behind the PM – who are Labor's powerbrokers in government? |url=https://www.watoday.com.au/politics/federal/the-power-behind-the-pm-who-are-labor-s-powerbrokers-in-government-20220624-p5awc2.html |website=WAtoday |access-date=26 June 2022 |date=26 June 2022}}
References
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{{s-par|au}}
{{s-bef|before=Ben Morton }}
{{s-ttl|title= Member for Tangney |years=2022–present}}
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{{Western Australia Representatives}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lim, Sam}}
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives
Category:Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Tangney
Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Category:Malaysian emigrants to Australia
Category:Australian people of Chinese descent
Category:Australian people of Malaysian descent
Category:Australian police officers
Category:Malaysian police officers
Category:People who lost Malaysian citizenship
Category:Labor Right politicians
Category:Australian politicians of Asian descent
Category:Australian MPs 2022–2025
{{Australia-Labor-politician-stub}}