Dato' Cheah Kah Peng () is a

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

politician, lawyer, painter, writer, filmmaker and

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activist. He was the

Penang State Legislative Assembly The Penang State Legislative Assembly is the legislature of the Malaysian state of Penang. It is a unicameral institution, consisting of a total of 40 elected lawmakers representing single-member constituencies throughout Penang. The state legis ...

man in

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

for the constituency of Kebun Bunga for one term from 2013 to 2018 representing the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...

(PH).

Background

Cheah Kah Peng was born in

Georgetown, Penang ) , short_description = Capital city of the Malaysian state of Penang , image_map = , map_caption = Location of George Town in Penang , pushpin_map = Penang#Malaysia#Asia#Earth , pushpin_maps ...

. Cheah () is his family name, and Kah Peng () is his given name. He attended Soochow University and

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

where he studied law. He received the prestigious British Government Chevening Scholarship and read law in Oxford. Living as a young traveller in Europe, Asia and Australia during the 1980s and 1990s he became involved in many civil and human rights campaign activities. He travelled widely as a painter, writer, filmmaker and human rights activist before he returned to Malaysia from Australia during the mid 90s, and practices laws at Cheah Kah Peng & Co., Penang.

Politics

Cheah became one of the earliest founding members of a new National Justice Party (KeADILan) on 4 April 1999 (which subsequently amalgamated with

Malaysian People's Party The Malaysian People's Party (abbreviation: PRM; Malay language, Malay: ''Parti Rakyat Malaysia'') is a political party in Malaysia. Founded on 11 November 1955 as Partai Ra'ayat, it is one of the older political parties in Malaysia and traces ...

(PRM) to become People's Justice Party (PKR). The political party he helped to construct focused on dismantling its colonial legacy of racial divide (or

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

) through tackling

institutionalised racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health ...

, poverty and inequality. He was elected as member of the party's Supreme Council and served as central committee member from 1999 to 2010. He was reported to be one of the International Human Rights lawyers at risk in international journals from 1999 to 2003 during which he was one of the few lawyers who stood up against Malaysia's draconian

Internal Security Act Internal Security Act may refer to: *Internal Security Act 1960, former Malaysian law *Internal Security Act (Singapore) *McCarran Internal Security Act, a United States federal law *Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, a South African law, renamed ...

(ISA). In the year 2000, he was arrested and imprisoned in Malaysia for a

trumped up charge __NOTOC__ In the United States criminal law, a frame-up (frameup) or setup is the act of framing someone, that is, providing false evidence or false testimony in order to falsely prove someone guilty of a crime. While incriminating those who a ...

of obstructing police officers in execution of their duty while the truth was that he tried to stop the police from causing

grievous bodily harm Grievous bodily harm (often abbreviated to GBH) is a term used in English criminal law to describe the severest forms of battery. It refers to two offences that are created by sections 18 and 20 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. The ...

to political detainees. In the 2013 general election, he was picked by PKR to contest and won the Penang state seat of Kebun Bunga to be its assemblyman.

Controversies

In November 2015, Cheah with four other PKR Penang assemblypersons – Ong Chin Wen (

Bukit Tengah Bukit Tengah is an industrial area in Central Seberang Perai District, Penang, Malaysia. This town is situated very close to the North–South Expressway. It is named after Kampung Bukit Tengah which is located next to the Mercedes-Benz automob ...

), Dr Norlela Ariffin (

Penanti Penanti is a small town in Central Seberang Perai District, Penang, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen s ...

), Dr T. Jayabalan (

Batu Uban Batu Uban is a residential neighbourhood at the eastern coast of Penang Island in Malaysia, about south of the centre of George Town, Penang's capital city, and adjacent to the Gelugor suburb. Founded by ethnic Minangkabaus in the early 18th ce ...

) and Lee Khai Loon (

Machang Bubok Machang Bubok ( Jawi: ماڅڠ بوبوق) is a new village in Central Seberang Perai District, Penang, Malaysia. As of date November 2011, the Machang Bubok village has 2134 people and 85% of the population consists of Chinese. About 12% of ...

) abstained from voting against a land reclamation motion proposed by the opposition

United Malays National Organisation The United Malays National Organisation (Malay: ; Jawi: ; abbreviated UMNO () or less commonly PEKEMBAR), is a nationalist right-wing political party in Malaysia. As the oldest continuous national political party within Malaysia (since its in ...

(UMNO); causing a conflict of the

(PH) state government and a strained relation with the Chief Minister of Penang then, Lim Guan Eng. In February 2016, Lim announced that Cheah and Ong who was also the state PKR whip had been removed from their positions in the state

government-linked companies A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

(GLCs). Cheah was sacked as the director of the Penang Hill Corporation (PHC) while Ong was sacked as the director posts in Penang Invest and Island Golf Properties Bhd, a subsidiary company of Penang Development Corporation. In 2017, Cheah was excluded from the PH assemblypersons list, who were to register victims of the Penang's devastating floods on 4–5 November in their own constituency for the state's initiated post-flood relief aid of RM700 for every eligible recipient. The Chief Minister Lim announced he together with the

Pulau Tikus Pulau Tikus is a northwestern suburb of George Town in Penang, Malaysia. Situated between the city centre and Tanjung Tokong, this upper class suburb was named after a rock just off the coast of Penang Island. It is home to small minorities of ...

assemblyperson

Yap Soo Huey Yap Soo Huey ( zh, s=叶舒惠, t=葉舒惠, p=Yè Shūhuì, poj=Ia̍p Su-hōe) is a Malaysian politician. She was a member of the Penang State Legislative Assembly representing the constituency of Pulau Tikus for one term from 2013 to 2018. S ...

instead would register floods victims in Cheah's Kebun Bunga constituency, near Botanical Gardens. To counter back, a defiant Cheah held a similar programme not far away from the one organised by the state government. As speculated, Cheah was dropped by PKR as the PH candidate, to make way of the Kebun Bunga seat for the predecessor assemblyman, Jason Ong Khan Lee returning to contest the 2018 general election. Ong managed to win the election on 9 May 2018 to be the Kebun Bunga assemblyman again. Percentage figures based on total turnout.

Election results

Honours

* : **

MY-PEN Order of the Defender of State - Officer - DSPN

Officer of the

Order of the Defender of State Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

(DSPN) – Dato' (2022)

External links

* *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cheah, Kah Peng Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Malaysian people of Chinese descent 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Malaysian painters Malaysian writers Malaysian filmmakers Malaysian human rights activists People's Justice Party (Malaysia) politicians Members of the Penang State Legislative Assembly Soochow University (Taiwan) alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford 21st-century Malaysian politicians 21st-century Malaysian lawyers