Fong Po Kuan (; born 15 September 1973) is a Malaysian politician from the
Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party (abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left social democracy, social democratic political party in Malaysia. ...
(DAP) political party. She is able to communicate in Chinese, English, and
Malay
Malay may refer to:
Languages
* Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore
** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century
** Indonesi ...
. She did her
STPM
The Malaysian Higher School Certificate ( ms, Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia), commonly abbreviated as STPM, is a pre-university examination in Malaysia. It was formerly known as the Higher School Certificate (HSC). Since 1982, STPM has been ...
in Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh in 1992. After that she attended the
International Islamic University Malaysia
The International Islamic University Malaysia ( ms, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia; Jawi alphabet, Jawi: اونيۏرسيتي اسلام انتارابڠسا مليسيا; ar, الجامعة الإسلامية العالمية بمال ...
(IIUM) from 1993 to 1997, and graduated with a law degree.
Political career
In the
1999 general election, Fong won the
Batu Gajah
Batu Gajah (population 133,422) is a municipality in Kinta District, Perak, Malaysia. It is the capital of Kinta District.
Etymology
The name ''Batu Gajah'' in Malay means "elephant rock", it is presumably derived from two large boulders (''b ...
parliamentary seat in the
Dewan Rakyat
The Dewan Rakyat (English: 'House of Representatives'; ) is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament, the federal legislature of Malaysia. The chamber and its powers are established by Article 44 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The Dewan Ra ...
, and became the youngest female Member of
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 ...
(MP) in Malaysia. She won 19,867 out of 38,774 votes, winning by a majority of 2,071 with 67.5% turnout. During her first term, she was suspended for six months from Parliament without wages or allowances for criticising the Speaker of the House. Her suspension was unique in that the Speaker had waived the seven-day notice period required to raise the issue, and that the matter was never brought to the Parliamentary Committee of Privileges. The 83 MPs, all from the Speaker's party, who voted for suspension only constituted 43% of parliament; while this was a majority of those present in the hall, it did not have a simple majority of the total number of MPs. The suspension was widely seen to be vindictive.
In 2003, Fong inquired in parliament why she had been compelled to wear the
''tudung'' for her graduation ceremony at IIUM. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education,
Mahadzir Mohammad Khir, stated wearing the ''tudung'' was encouraged but not mandatory. A year later, the IIUM Senate made it compulsory for female students to wear the tudung to their convocation ceremony.
In 2005, having noticed a few non-Muslim women wearing the ''
tudung
The tudong (Indonesian: ''tudung'', Jawi: تودوڠ) is a style of headscarf, worn as interpretation of the Islamic hijab, prevalent amongst many Muslim women in the Malay-speaking world; Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore. Today, the t ...
'' in the gallery, she raised a point of order about whether wearing the ''tudung'' was compulsory in Parliament. It was not.
Fong initially decided not to defend her seat in the
2008 general election. After DAP leaders asked her to reconsider, she finally agreed to run for re-election, retaining her Batu Gajah parliamentary seat for the third term with a majority of 24,627.
Election results
Personal life
Fong, 34, married Johor DAP organising secretary
Tan Chen Choon, 38, on 12 January 2008 then. They organised a quiet wedding ceremony solemnised by Ipoh Chin Woo Association's assistant registrar Datuk Ooi Foh Sing. Her husband, Tan later became
Johor State Assemblyman for
Jementah
Jementah is a mukim in Segamat District, Johor, Malaysia.
Name
There are two versions of stories of how Jementah got its name. The first version was during the foundation of a village which later became Jementah town center, some villagers com ...
in
2013
File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...
and
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...
general elections and also appointed as
Johor's EXCO in 2019.
References
External links
Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fong, Po Kuan
1973 births
Living people
People from Perak
Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent
Malaysian people of Cantonese descent
Malaysian Buddhists
Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians
Members of the Dewan Rakyat
Women members of the Dewan Rakyat
Women in Perak politics
International Islamic University Malaysia alumni
20th-century Malaysian women politicians
21st-century Malaysian women politicians
20th-century Malaysian politicians
21st-century Malaysian politicians