Sam Lim

Biography

Bon Cheng Lim, who is better known as Sam Lim, is a Malaysian-born Australian politician. He was elected as a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) to represent the Division of Tangney in Western Australia in the Australian House of Representatives in 2022.

Lim was born on 6 June 1961 in Muar, in the Federation of Malaya. He grew up in a large family of eight siblings, and spent his childhood in a house with minimal amenities, including no electricity and a leaking roof. As a child, Lim dreamed of becoming a policeman, and after completing his Malaysian Certificate Examination, he joined the Royal Malaysia Police in the 1980s. However, due to low pay rates, he decided to leave the police force after two years.

Following this, Lim worked as a dolphin trainer at a safari park in Johor for five years, which he described as his “best job ever”. However, the safari park later closed down, and Lim went on to start his own small business. In 2005, Lim decided to leave Malaysia and emigrate to Australia, initially planning to retire with his family. However, after moving to Australia in 2006, he decided to continue his dream of becoming a police officer and joined the Western Australia Police Force.

During his time in the police force, Lim worked in several locations, including Perth, Karratha, Eucla, and Fremantle. In 2017, he was transferred to the department’s Perth headquarters, where he was responsible for assisting multicultural Asian groups. In December 2020, Lim was awarded Officer of the Year at the Nine News Police Excellence Awards for his role in pandemic outreach through translating COVID-19 announcements for multiple communities.

Lim is known for his ability to speak ten languages, including Malay, Mandarin Chinese, Indonesian, and Burmese. He is part of the Labor Right faction, which is more economically and socially conservative.