Pansy Yu Fong Wong (; born 1955) is a former New Zealand politician. She was New Zealand's first Asian MP, serving as a member of parliament for the National Party from 1996 to 2011. She was also New Zealand's first Asian Cabinet Minister, serving as Minister for Ethnic Affairs, Minister of Women's Affairs, Associate Minister for ACC, and Associate Minister of Energy and Resources in the Fifth National Government. Wong resigned from Parliament in January 2011 after allegations of misusing her Parliamentary travel perks.

Early life

Wong was born in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

and raised in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. She attended Queen Elizabeth School, Hong Kong. She emigrated to New Zealand in 1974, and studied commerce at University of Canterbury in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

before embarking on a career in business and accounting. Before entering national politics, she served on the

Canterbury Regional Council Environment Canterbury, frequently abbreviated to ECan. is the promotional name for the Canterbury Regional Council. It is the regional council for Canterbury, the largest region in the South Island of New Zealand. It is part of New Zealand's str ...

for seven years until 1996 when she entered parliament as a National List MP. She is married to

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 ...

n-born businessman Sammy Teck Seng Wong. Wong holds a Master of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Canterbury. She is also a New Zealand Senior Scholar and Associated Chartered Accountant, awarded with fellowship status. She speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding ar ...

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

. In 1993, Wong was awarded the

New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 was established by Royal Warrant on 1 July 1993. It was created to commemorate Women's suffrage in New Zealand and to recognize those New Zealand and Commonwealth citizens who had made a significant ...

Member of Parliament

Wong was elected to Parliament as a

list MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

in the 1996 election, becoming New Zealand's first ethnically

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

MP. She unsuccessfully contested the electorate of Auckland Central in the 2005 election. During the 48th New Zealand Parliament she served as National's spokesperson for Commerce and Liaison with Asian New Zealanders and associate spokesperson for Education (International Education), Revenue and Immigration. She won the new seat of

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

in the 2008 election. The Botany electorate included part of the old

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 ...

electorate held by

Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...

, her National Party colleague. Collins had originally indicated to seek nomination for the seat of Howick (which the Electoral Commission later redrew and renamed to

following objections to the boundaries to the neighbouring electorate of

Pakuranga Pakuranga is an eastern suburb of Auckland, in northern New Zealand. Pakuranga covers a series of low ridges and previously swampy flats, now drained, that lie between the Pakuranga Creek and Tamaki River, two estuarial arms of the Hauraki Gu ...

), but then stood for the Papakura seat, which also shared common boundaries with Clevedon. Wong's decision was based partly on the fact that 33% of the Botany electorate is Asian. On 12 November 2010 Wong resigned as a Minister after misusing her parliamentary travel perks for a trip to China on which her husband conducted private business activities, which is specifically prohibited. Wong resigned as an MP on 17 January 2011, resulting in the 2011 Botany by-election. On 15 September 2011 Wong was granted the right
Retention of the title 'The Honourable'
' (15 September 2011) 144 The New Zealand Gazette 4128. to retain the title of the

Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certai ...

for her lifetime.

References

External links

Parliamentary web page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Pansy 1955 births Living people New Zealand National Party MPs Women members of the New Zealand House of Representatives University of Canterbury alumni Hong Kong emigrants to New Zealand New Zealand list MPs New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives 21st-century New Zealand politicians 21st-century New Zealand women politicians Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993