Choo Wee Khiang
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Choo Wee Khiang ( zh, s=朱为强, p=Zhū Wéiqiáng) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the governing
People's Action Party The People's Action Party (abbreviation: PAP) is a major conservative centre-right political party in Singapore and is one of the three contemporary political parties represented in Parliament, alongside the opposition Workers' Party (WP) and ...
(PAP), he was the
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) representing the Whampoa division of
Jalan Besar GRC Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency is a four-member Group Representation Constituency composed of several city suburbs surrounding the Central Area of Singapore. There are four wards in the GRC: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng, Kolam Ayer, Wham ...
between 1997 and 1999. Choo resigned from both the party and Parliament before being convicted for corruption. Choo had previously represented the Kallang division of
Jalan Besar GRC Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency is a four-member Group Representation Constituency composed of several city suburbs surrounding the Central Area of Singapore. There are four wards in the GRC: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng, Kolam Ayer, Wham ...
between 1991 and 1997 and the Joo Chiat division of
Marine Parade GRC The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylan ...
between 1981 and 1991. Choo was charged with three counts of corruption in 2011 and one of criminal breach of trust during his tenure as President of the Singapore Table Tennis Association between 1991 and 1998 and again between 2002 and 2008.


Career

Choo made his political debut in the 1988 general election where he contested in
Marine Parade GRC The Marine Parade Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) located in the central, eastern and north-eastern areas of Singapore. The constituency consists of a section of Bedok, Chai Chee, Geylan ...
against the opposition
Singapore Justice Party The Singapore Justice Party (abbreviation: SJP) is a political party in Singapore. Background The party has been based mostly in Marine Parade district of Singapore since the party has taken part in general elections after 1988 by fielding its c ...
. During the 1991 general election, Choo contested in
Jalan Besar GRC Jalan Besar Group Representation Constituency is a four-member Group Representation Constituency composed of several city suburbs surrounding the Central Area of Singapore. There are four wards in the GRC: Kreta Ayer-Kim Seng, Kolam Ayer, Wham ...
and won by an uncontested walkover. In March 1992, Choo caused a controversy when he made a remark in
Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
about driving through
Little India Little India or India Town (less commonly known as Indian Street or India Bazaar) is an Indian or Desi (South Asian) sociocultural environment outside India or the subcontinent. It especially refers to an area with Indian residences and a dive ...
and finding the neighbourhood in "complete darkness", "not because there was no light, but because there were too many Indians around there". This had led to calls for his resignation. Choo later apologised, calling his remark a "joke". During the 1997 general election, Choo contested in Jalan Besar GRC again and won against the opposition
Singapore Democratic Party The Singapore Democratic Party (abbreviation: SDP) is a politcal party in Singapore. The party was founded on 6 August 1980 by Chiam See Tong. During the 1991 general election, Ling How Doong and Cheo Chai Chen won Bukit Gombak SMC and Nee ...
. In December 1999, Choo resigned from the party and Parliament before pleading guilty to cheating charges in court. With Choo's resignation,
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...
said the other MPs in Jalan Besar GRC will continue to serve the residents. Choo served as Deputy President of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) between 1989 and 1991 and was elected as President in 1991 before resigning in 1998. After a four-year break, he became President of the Singapore Table Tennis Association again in 1998. He succeeded Yeo Guat Kwang as STTA's president in 2002 after being elected unopposed at STTA's biennial general meeting at the Singapore Table Tennis Academy. Choo stepped down as president during STTA's biennial general meeting in 2008. After leaving STTA in 2008, Choo became the general manager of Marina Bay Golf Course. Choo was also Asia’s representative in the International Table Tennis Federation Development and Continental Council from 2004 and the Honorary Treasurer of the Asian Table Tennis Union from 1991. In 2009, Choo received the IOC President's Trophy from the Singapore National Olympic Committee for his outstanding contributions to the development of table tennis in Singapore since 1989.


Legal troubles


Cheating conviction

In November 1990, Choo issued a false invoice from his company claiming to have sold equipment worth more than a million dollars to Wong See Kee, Choo's brother-in-law. Wong had used the invoice to get S$830,000 in financing, supposedly to pay for the purchase of the equipment. In 1999, Choo was charged with cheating. He resigned from PAP and Parliament before pleading guilty in court to a charge which was reduced from aggravated to simple cheating. Under the Singapore Law, an MP will lose their seat if they get a year of jail or more than a S$2,000 fine. Choo's former fellow MP and Senior Counsel,
K. Shanmugam Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam ( ta, காசிவிஸ்வநாதன் சண்முகம்; born 26 March 1959), better known as K. Shanmugam, is a Singaporean politician and lawyer who has been serving as Minister for Law since 2008 ...
, represented Choo. Shanmugam pushed for a fine instead of a jail sentence. Petition letters by grassroots leaders, vouching for Choo's character, described Choo as "hardworking", "compassionate", "selfless" and dedicated to community service.
Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Lee Hsien Loong Lee Hsien Loong (; born 10 February 1952) is a Singaporean politician and former brigadier-general who has been serving as Prime Minister of Singapore and Secretary-General of the People's Action Party since 2004. He has been the Member of Par ...
had said that Choo has done the right thing in resigning from the party and as an MP, before pleading guilty in court. Choo was sentenced to two weeks' jail and fined S$10,000.


Corruption charges

From 2005 to 2007, the
Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau The Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) is a government agency in Singapore under the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The CPIB has the mandate to investigate into any acts or forms of corruption in the public and private sectors in Sing ...
(CPIB) received several anonymous complaints against Choo alleging that he had charged his personal airfares, expenses, phone bills to the Singapore Table Tennis Association and received gifts from Chinese coaches and players. The total amount involved about S$10,600. The offences were allegedly committed during Choo's tenure as the president of the STTA. The CPIB conducted investigations revealed that in 2005, Choo had received S$1,500 from Liu Zhongze, who was then a national team player, and Luo Jie, who was then an assistant coach of the STTA, in return for giving Liu more opportunities to represent the STTA in table tennis tournaments. Between 2003 and 2004, Choo is believed to have accepted US$600 on two separate occasions from Shi Mei Sheng, who was then a STTA coach for approval of usage of two different training facilities in China. On 8 December 2011, Choo was charged with three counts of corruption and one of
criminal breach of trust In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
. Koh Li Ping, former High Performance Manager of STTA, was also involved in the criminal breach of trust charge. The CPIB said that between 2002 and 2003, Luo Jie, whose work pass only permitted him to work for STTA, provided table tennis training to students of Fuhua Secondary School. But the school was unable to pay him for the training provided, which amounted to S$8,400. Luo Jie told Choo and Koh about this, both of them then allegedly arranged with the school principal to engage STTA in a new training arrangement. The proceeds for the new training arrangement received will be used to pay Luo Jie for the outstanding fees. After STTA received the payment from the school, Koh obtained approval from Choo to authorise a payment of S$8,400 to Luo Jie, even though the latter did not provide any training services under the new training arrangement. Choo's case has been adjourned to 22 December. If found guilty of corruption, he can be fined S$100,000 and jailed five years for each charge. The punishment for criminal breach of trust is a jail term of up to 15 years and a fine. Choo was acquitted of his charge of criminal breach of trust after the prosecution dropped the three other counts of corruption and proceeded with the criminal breach of trust charge.


Personal life

Choo's nephew,
Desmond Choo Desmond Choo Pey Ching (; born 1978) is a Singaporean politician and former police officer who has been serving as Mayor of North East District since 2017 and Assistant Secretary-General of the National Trades Union Congress since 2015. A membe ...
, has been a PAP Member of Parliament representing the Tampines Changkat ward of
Tampines GRC The Tampines Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the eastern region of Singapore. The GRC encompasses Tampines with five divisions: Tampines East, Tampines West, Tampines Central, Tampin ...
since 2015.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choo, Wee Khiang Living people Members of the Parliament of Singapore Singaporean people of Teochew descent People's Action Party politicians Prisoners and detainees of Singapore 1955 births