Goh Leong San () (born 15 November 1967) 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. Goh is a former
Malacca State Legislative Assembly
The Malacca State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Melaka) is the unicameral legislature of the Malaysian state of Malacca. It is composed of 28 members who are elected from single-member constituencies throughout the state. Ele ...
man (MLA) for several
Malacca state constituencies; Tengkera (1995-2004),
Bandar Hilir
Malacca City ( ms, Bandaraya Melaka or ') is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Malacca. As of 2019 it has a population of 579,000.https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/uploads/files/6_Newsletter/Newsletter%202020/DOSM_DOSM_MELAKA_1_2020_Siri-81.p ...
(2004-2008),
Kesidang
Kesidang is a state constituency in Malacca, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Melaka State Legislative Assembly.
The state constituency was first contested in 2004 and is mandated to return a single Assemblyman to the Melaka State Legisl ...
(2008-2013) and
Duyong (2013-2018).
Presently Goh is an
independent politician
An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent.
Some politicians have political views th ...
after his resignation from
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) in 2017. He was previously the state chairman for
Malacca
Malacca ( ms, Melaka) is a state in Malaysia located in the southern region of the Malay Peninsula, next to the Strait of Malacca. Its capital is Malacca City, dubbed the Historic City, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site si ...
and also Central Executive Committee member for DAP.
Early life and education
Goh was born on 15 November 1967 in Malacca. His name, Leong San, literally means "Hero of Mount Liang" in Chinese, a name that also was used in the famous Chinese classical novel ''
Water Margin
''Water Margin'' (''Shuihu zhuan'') is one of the earliest Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin, and is attributed to Shi Nai'an. It is also translated as ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' and ''All Men Are Brothers''.
The story, which is s ...
.''
He completed his tertiary education at
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia ( 'Science University of Malaysia'; abbreviated as USM) is a public research university in Malaysia. Founded on 1 June 1969 as a statutory body with its own constitution, it is among the oldest institutes of higher l ...
(USM) obtaining the Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Chemistry.
He then became a chemist and household products manufacturer.
Political career
Goh had joined the DAP in 1994. He contested the constituency of Tengkera twice and won in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
and
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
to become its assemblyman from 1995 to 2004 before switching to contest the seat
Bandar Hilir
Malacca City ( ms, Bandaraya Melaka or ') is the capital city of the Malaysian state of Malacca. As of 2019 it has a population of 579,000.https://www.dosm.gov.my/v1/uploads/files/6_Newsletter/Newsletter%202020/DOSM_DOSM_MELAKA_1_2020_Siri-81.p ...
, Malacca in
2004 election.
Goh ascended to the DAP Malacca State Chief in 2005, succeeding his mentor
Sim Tong Him
Sim Tong Him (; born 8 September 1948) is a Malaysian politician. He is the former Member of Parliament for Kota Melaka, Malacca for two terms from 2008 to 2018. Presently Sim is an independent politician after his resignation from Democrat ...
. Goh had secured 85 votes in the hotly contested party internal election, which also saw DAP secretary-general
Lim Guan Eng
Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan, Member of the ...
and his wife
Betty Chew
Betty Chew Gek Cheng (; born 15 August 1964) is a Malaysian politician from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition who served as Member of the Melaka State Legislative Assembly (ML ...
unexpectedly got the lowest number of votes out of 15 candidates, thus causing Chew to lose her seat on the Malacca DAP committee entirely. Chew was "saddened by the results", but said she accepted her defeat. However,
Teresa Kok
Teresa Kok Suh Sim (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Kwo̍k Su-tshim''; born 31 March 1964) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Minister of Primary Industries in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad ...
, a DAP Member of Parliament (MP), suggested there was a conspiracy behind the defeat of Lim and Chew in their re-election campaigns. Both Goh and Sim DAP membership was suspended for one-year suspension on 16 February 2016, reportedly for disparaging the party. Goh was initially alleged to turn
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
assemblyman but somehow refuted by DAP which maintained he was still a member under suspension of the party later.
In the
2008 election
This electoral calendar 2008 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2008 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, even though they are not elections. By-elections are no ...
, Goh at age 40 continued to run for state assemblyman seat and had won again against incumbent
Koh Nai Kwong
Datuk Wira Koh Nai Kwong () is a Malaysian politician of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a major party in Malaysia's governing Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. Koh was the Member of Parliament for Alor Gajah constituency, in Mala ...
of MCA-BN in the electoral constituency of Kesidang with margin of 1,399 votes
In the
2013 election, he faced off against Gan Tian Loo from MCA-BN for the Duyong, Malacca state seat and won again, though by a much smaller margin of just 205 votes. He however later resigned as state opposition leader in October 2013.
Goh himself was ousted as the state DAP chief on 14 December 2015 by the newly-elected state committee that had selected
Tey Kok Kiew
Tey Kok Kiew () is a Malaysian politician who served as Member of the Melaka State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) state administration under former Chief Minister Adly Zahari from May 2018 to the collapse of the PH state ad ...
instead.
On 12 February 2017, Goh along with Sim, MP for
Kota Melaka and two other Malacca state assemblymen namely Lim Jack Wong of Bachang, and Chin Choong Seong of Kesidang finally decided and announced their resignation from the DAP to be Independents, citing lack of trust in the party leadership. They later had formed an independent candidates bloc called 'Justice League' to contest in the
2018 election (GE14) using the key as their common symbol but all had lost. In the elections, Goh contested as independent candidate the parliamentary constituency of Kota Melaka and state constituency of Bandar Hilir concurrently but had lost both constituencies.
Hence, even though Goh never get to be a MP of
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 ...
, he had become a five-term assemblyman of various state seats from 2004 until 2018.
Controversies
On 17 September 2015, Dr.
Wong Fort Pin
Wong Fort Pin (; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Vòng Fò-phìn'') is a Malaysian politician and doctor. He served as Member of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Bemban for a term from May 2018 to November 2021 and Deputy Speaker of the Malac ...
, the Bukit Palah DAP branch chairman who is also a doctor then, successfully sued Goh with Sim for defamation because of libelous media statements they have issued to implicate him in outraging the modesty of his patients and also accused his sibling of being involved in illegal activities. He won RM300,000 in damages.
Personal life
Goh is married and a father of three children.
Election results
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goh, Leong San
Living people
1967 births
People from Malacca
Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent
Independent politicians in Malaysia
Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians
Leaders of the Opposition in the Malacca State Legislative Assembly
Members of the Malacca State Legislative Assembly
21st-century Malaysian politicians