Ho Kah Leong ( zh, c=何家良, p=Hé Jiāliáng; born 1937) is a former Singaporean politician and was a member of the

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 (MP) for

Jurong Single Member Constituency Jurong Single Member Constituency was a single member constituency (SMC) in the western area in Singapore mainly in Jurong and Tuas area. It had existed since the 1959 general elections by carving a portion from Bukit Timah Constituency. In 1976 ...

(SMC) from 1966 to 1997. After retirement from politics in December 1996, he became the principal of

Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts (NAFA); (Standard Chinese: 南洋艺术学院; ms, Akademi Seni Halus Nanyang; ta, நன்யாங் அகாடமி ஆஃப் ஃபைன் ஆர்ட்ஸ்) is a publicly-funded post-secondary ar ...

(NAFA) from 1997 to 2003, and Executive director of NAFA International Pte Ltd from 2003 to 2005.

Education

Ho studied at Sin Sheng School and then Chung Cheng High School. He went on to study at NAFA from 1955 to 1956 before obtaining a Bachelor of Science degree from

Nanyang University Nanyang University (, also known as Nantah (), was a university in Singapore between 1956 and 1980. During its existence, it was Singapore's only private university in the Chinese language. In 1980, Nanyang University was merged with the Univer ...

in 1963.

Career

After graduation, Ho became a teacher and taught at

Nan Chiau High School Nan Chiau High School (NCHS) () is a co-educational government-aided institution in Sengkang, Singapore affiliated to the Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan. It offers the four-year Express (Special) course for secondary education. Founded in 1947, th ...

and Chung Hwa Girls' High School. Ho is additionally an artist and paints oil paintings on nature and serene Malay villages. Ho also does calligraphy. He had also participated in many group exhibitions such as the President’s Charity Art Exhibition in October 1997, and had held 14 solo exhibitions. Ho frequently donated his paintings and works for charity. His coffee-table book on his works, Beautiful Lion City: The Art of Ho Kah Leong, was sold to raise funds to upgrade PAP Community Foundation kindergartens. He had also produced calendars featuring his paintings to raise funds for others such as building funds for the Basketball Association and the Jurong Town Community Centre. After retiring from politics in December 1996, Ho joined his alma mater, NAFA, as its principal in 1997. In 2003, he became an Executive director of NAFA International Pte Ltd till 2005. He is also the president of the Singapore Arts Federation.

Political career

In November 1966, after then Jurong SMC's MP,

Chia Thye Poh Chia Thye Poh (born 1941) is a Singaporean former politician. A former member of the Barisan Sosialis, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Jurong SMC between 1963 and 1966. A leftist populist, Chia is most notable for being detained ...

Barisan Sosialis Barisan Sosialis ( eng, Socialist Front) was a political party in Singapore. It was formed on 29 July 1961 and officially registered on 13 August 1961 by left-wing members of the People's Action Party (PAP) who had been expelled from the PAP. ...

(BS), resigned as part of BS boycott of parliament, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was called and Ho, representing the PAP, took the seat after a walkover. Ho retained his Jurong SMC seat from 1966 to 1996 for eight terms with one uncontested by-election, four uncontested elections and three contested elections. Ho was also parliamentary secretary for the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

and later served as senior parliamentary secretary for the

Ministry of Communications and Information The Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI; ms, Kementerian Perhubungan dan Penerangan; zh, 通讯及新闻部; ta, தொடர்பு, தகவல் அமைச்சு) is a ministry of the Government of Singapore respons ...

and the Ministry of the Environment.

Personal life

Ho's wife, Kho Choo Eng, passed in 1996. He then remarried Grace Chan Lai Kiew in 1997. He has one son and three daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Kah Leong 1937 births Members of the Parliament of Singapore Singaporean people of Hakka descent People's Action Party politicians Living people