P. G. Lim

Tan Sri Lim Phaik Gan, known as P. G. Lim, (Chinese: 林碧顏; pinyin: Lín Bìyán; 29 June 1918 – 7 May 2013) [1][2] was a British-born Malaysian lawyer and diplomat. She was one of the first female lawyers to practice in Malaysia.[3] Lim also served as Malaysia's first female ambassador.[4] She served as Malaysia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Yugoslavia, Austria, and the European Economic Community during her diplomatic career.[3]

Lim was born in London, United Kingdom in 1915.[3][4][5] Her father, Lim Cheng Ean (Chinese: 林清淵; pinyin: Lín Qīngyuān), was a lawyer and legislative councillor (Jalan Lim Chin Guan is named after her father).[4] Her mother, Rosalind Hoalim, was British Guyanese.[4] Lim was oldest of her siblings, who include Lim Kean Chye.

Lim graduated from Convent Light Street in George Town, Penang.[4] She was one of the first women from present-day Malaysia to receive a Master's of Law from Girton College, Cambridge.[3]

In 1948, she acted as the defence attorney for Lee Meng, a Communist guerrilla leader arrested in Perak, Malayan Union.[3] In 1968, she defended eleven young people who had been sentenced to death for collaborating with Indonesian forces during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation.[3] She secured pardons for all eleven defendants from the Sultan of Johor and the Sultan of Perak.[4]

The Malaysian Parliament was suspended in 1969 in the aftermath of the sectarian riots in the country. P. G. Lim was one of only two women to be appointed to the National Operations Council, which governed Malaysia from 1969 to 1971 in the aftermath of the riots.[3] Members of the Council approved the Malaysian New Economic Policy in 1970, which was implemented in 1971.[3]

In 1971, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdul Razak Hussein named Lim deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, a position which held the rank of Ambassador to the UN.[3] Lim later continued her diplomatic career as the Malaysian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Austria, and the European Economic Community.[3]

She served as the Director of the Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration until her retirement in 2001.[3] Lim was awarded the Merdeka Award in 2009.[3]

Lim died in Perth, Western Australia, on 7 May 2013, at the age of 96. She was survived by two children, Wee Han Kim and Caryn Lim, and two grandchildren.[3]