Wee Choo Keong

Wee Choo Keong
黄朱强
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Wangsa Maju
In office
8 March 2008 – 5 May 2013
Preceded by Yew Teong Look (MCA)
Succeeded by Tan Kee Kwong (PKR)
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Bukit Bintang
In office
1990–1995
Preceded by Lee Lam Thye (DAP)
Succeeded by Lee Chong Meng (MCA)
Personal details
Born (1953-06-26) 26 June 1953
Kelantan, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)
Nationality Malaysian
Political party DAP (1986-1998)
MDP (1999-2008)
PKR (2008–2010)
Independent (2010–2013)
Occupation Politician, lawyer
Website weechookeong.wordpress.com

Wee Choo Keong (simplified Chinese: 黄朱强; traditional Chinese: 黃朱強; pinyin: Huáng Zhū Qiáng; born 26 June 1953) is a Malaysian politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Bukit Bintang from 1990 to 1995 and for Wangsa Maju from 2008 to 2013. Wee has been a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), the Malaysian Democratic Party (MDC) which he formed, and the People's Justice Party (PKR) which he tried to join before turning independent eventually.[1] Wee was appointed as Tourism Malaysia chairperson by the then ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government on 17 June 2015.[2]

Political career

Democratic Action Party

Wee started his political career as a member of the DAP contesting in 1986 general election and he was elected as member of parliament for the Bukit Bintang constituency (earlier was Kuala Lumpur Bandar before been renamed) in 1990 general election.[3]

In 1993, an injunction was issued against Wee and two other defendants from "printing, circulating or publishing any allegation of impropriety about the companies" after a case was brought by MBf alleging the defendants "unlawfully conspired with each other with the predominant purpose of injuring the companies by unlawful means".[4] MBf later applied to have the defendants (including Wee) held in contempt of court for failing to obey the injunction.[4] The application succeeded against Wee and another of his co-defendants and Wee was eventually ordered to pay a RM7,000 fine on appeal.[4] The injunction against Wee brought by MBf was set aside in 2007 with the Court of Appeal ruling "The injunction was too wide in its terms and almost oppressive".[4] He later sought damages against MBf and AmBank (who had acquired MBf) for loss of income due his inability to be an MP and the damage to his professional standing as a lawyer.[5]

Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP)

Wee was removed from the Bukit Bintang seat in 1995 after a controversial court case which nullified his re-election that year due to the fine he had received.[3] He was ejected from the DAP in 1998 after being accused of damaging the party's image and went on to form the Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP).[3] He later attempted to join Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) but was rejected by the party who stated at the time they did not want renegades from DAP.[3] Due to the ruling against him in the 1995 court case, he was unable to contest the 1999 election.[5] He contested the 2004 elections but did not even receive enough votes to keep his deposit.[6] Wee Choo Keong was later referred to by V.K. Lingam in the Lingam tape.[7] After the video tape was made public in 2007, Wee stated he intended to file for judicial review of the 1995 decision.[7] Later, he also lodged a report with Suhakam over the tape arguing it demonstrated his human rights had been infringed.[8][9][10]

People's Justice Party (PKR)

Before the 2008 general election, although still a member of the MDP, he was invited to join the PKR under the de facto leadership of Anwar Ibrahim and contest the Wangsa Maju constituency[3] which he later won with a slim majority of 150.[11]

Independent

In May 2010, Wee left PKR to sit in Parliament as an independent, citing disappointment with the PKR-led state government in Selangor's handling of the Dengkil sand mining scandal and what he called "little Napoleons and trendy leftists" taking control of the party.[1][12] He did not recontest his seat in the 2013 general election.

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia[13][14][15]
Year Constituency Opposition Votes Pct Government Votes Pct Others Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
1986 P93 Klang, Selangor Wee Choo Keong (DAP) 24,299 46.63% Ng Cheng Kiat (MCA) 24,966 47.92% Azmi Ali @ Nik (PAS) 2,317 4.45% 53,026 667 70.74%
Gabriel Lee (SDP) 519 1.00%
1990 P99 Bukit Bintang, KL Wee Choo Keong (DAP) 31,829 78.86% Tan Kah Choun (MCA) 8,534 21.14% 40,558 23,295 61.40%
1995 P108 Bukit Bintang, KL Wee Choo Keong (DAP)[A] 20,403 57.66% Lee Chong Meng (MCA) 14,857 41.99% Teng Chang Khim (Ind) 123 0.35% 36.666 5,546 61.75%
2004 P122 Bukit Bintang, KL Wee Choo Keong (MDP) 1,107 2.81% Tan Chew Mooi (MCA) 18,799 47.67% Fong Kui Lun (DAP) 19,103 48.44% 39,938 304 61.34%
Billi Lim Peng Soon (Ind) 132 0.33%
2008 P116 Wangsa Maju, KL Wee Choo Keong (PKR)[B] 19,637 67.07% Yew Teong Look (MCA) 19,487 31.35% 39,798 150 73.01%

A Initially, the Returning Officer had declared Wee Choo Keong as the elected representative for Bukit Bintang at the night of 25 April 1995. However, Lee Chong Meng filed his petition to nullify the election due to the fact that Wee had been convicted of the offence of contempt of Court and fined RM7,000, and hence disqualified to be a Member of Parliament under the provisions of Article 48(l)(e) of the Federal Constitution. Election was declared null and void. The Federal Court had made such a controversial decision to declare Lee Chong Meng as the rightful winner. The appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. No by-election was held by the Election Commission of Malaysia.[16]

B Wee has contested and won the Wangsa Maju seat under the ticket of PKR but left to be an Independent in 2010.[1][3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong quits PKR but remains as MP The Star. 14 May 2010
  2. ↑ Gov't coughed up RM400k for Yen Yen's yen for trips Malaysiakini. Published 22 Dec 2015 7:52 am Updated 22 Dec 2015 7:56 am
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Choo Keong: Flying Dutchman no more" by Terence Netto, Malaysiakini, 25 February 2008
  4. 1 2 3 4 The Star "Ex-Bukit Bintang MP wins appeal" 13 April 2007
  5. 1 2 Former MP sues MBf, AmBank for RM39m New Straits Times, 4 October 2007
  6. ↑ Election Commission records
  7. 1 2 http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/73050
  8. ↑ http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/10/20/nation/19226203&sec=nation
  9. ↑ http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/73743
  10. ↑ http://www.malaysianbar.org.my/letters_others/media_statement_by_wee_choo_keong.html
  11. ↑ http://thestar.com.my/election/results/09/09p.html
  12. ↑ Press Release on the Sand Mining Scandal In Dengkil, Selangor Official blog. 14 May 2010
  13. ↑ "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri". Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 27 May 2010. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
  14. ↑ "Malaysia General Election". undiinfo Malaysian Election Data. Malaysiakini. Retrieved 5 May 2014. Results only available from the 2004 election.
  15. ↑ "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pilihan Raya Umum. Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  16. ↑ Wee Choo Keong v Lee Chong Meng & Anor 1996 [CA]
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