Wong Chen (; born 18 December 1968) 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 A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

who has served as 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) for

Subang Subang may refer to: Indonesia * Subang, Kuningan, a town and district in Kuningan Regency, West Java * Subang Regency, a regency of West Java ** Subang, Subang, a town and district in Subang Regency, West Java Malaysia *Subang (federal constitue ...

since May 2018 and for

Kelana Jaya Kelana Jaya is a suburb of Petaling Jaya city, in the state of Selangor, Malaysia, comprising sections SS3, SS4, SS5, SS6, and SS7. The Damansara–Puchong Expressway cuts through this neighbourhood. The shopping mall Paradigm Mall is located here ...

from May 2013 to May 2018. He is a member of the

People's Justice Party The People's Justice Party ( ms, Parti Keadilan Rakyat , often known simply as KEADILAN or PKR) is a reformist political party in Malaysia, formed in 2003 by a merger of the National Justice Party and the older Malaysian People's Party. The ...

(PKR), a component party of the

Pakatan Harapan The Alliance of Hope ( ms, Pakatan Harapan; abbrev: PH; stylized as HARAPAN) is a Malaysian political coalition consisting of centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has been the r ...

(PH) coalition and formerly

Pakatan Rakyat The People's Alliance ( ms, Pakatan Rakyat; abbrev: PR) was an informal Malaysian political coalition and successor to Barisan Alternatif (BA). The political coalition was formed by the People's Justice Party (PKR), Democratic Action Party (DAP ...

(PR) coalitions. He was also a member of th
Special Select Committee on Finance and Economy
alongside several other MPs.

Background

Wong Chen was born in Assunta Hospital, Petaling Jaya in 1968 and spent his early childhood in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

and

Kota Bharu Kota Bharu, colloquially referred to as KB, is a town in Malaysia that serves as the state capital and royal seat of Kelantan. It is situated in the northeastern part of Peninsular Malaysia and lies near the mouth of the Kelantan River. The t ...

Kelantan Kelantan (; Jawi: ; Kelantanese Malay: ''Klate'') is a state in Malaysia. The capital is Kota Bharu and royal seat is Kubang Kerian. The honorific name of the state is ''Darul Naim'' (Jawi: ; "The Blissful Abode"). Kelantan is located in the ...

. Wong Chen's father was a self-made businessman, whereas his mother was a homemaker. He has three siblings, two brothers and a sister. Although Wong Chen was born in Petaling Jaya, he spent much of his early years in Kota Bharu where his father's business was based and this was also where he received his primary education. Wong Chen continued his studies by attending

United World College of South East Asia The United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA) is an independent international school in Singapore, and is a member of the United World College (UWC) movement. The school provides a K–12 education consisting of five interlinking elemen ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

. Subsequently, after completing secondary school, he furthered his academic education by reading Law and receiving his law degree from the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

. After graduating university, Wong Chen returned to his hometown of Kota Bharu and started practicing law. During his tenure in Kota Bharu, he also did community work by helping the rural poor and powerless through the local legal aid bureau. After spending five years back in his hometown, he then moved to Kuala Lumpur where he became a lawyer specialising in corporate law and information technology. It was during the

1997 Asian Financial Crisis The Asian financial crisis was a period of financial crisis that gripped much of East Asia and Southeast Asia beginning in July 1997 and raised fears of a worldwide economic meltdown due to financial contagion. However, the recovery in 1998–1 ...

that he began to develop strong feelings within Malaysian politics especially in the wake of the Reformasi Movement.

Political career

Wong Chen joined PKR in 2009. He was asked by a client to help the formation of

and ended up joining the party as an ad-hoc advisor. He acted as a lawyer and drafted the Pakatan Rakyat constitution and submitted documents to the ROS (Registrar of Societies). He started as an ad hoc advisor to the party and worked with

Rafizi Ramli Mohd Rafizi bin Ramli ( Jawi: ; born 14 September 1977) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Economy in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since December 2022 and the Member of Par ...

GST GST may refer to: Taxes * General sales tax * Goods and Services Tax, the name for the value-added tax in several jurisdictions: ** Goods and services tax (Australia) ** Goods and Services Tax (Canada) ** Goods and Services Tax (Hong Kong) **G ...

. Later in 2011 he was appointed to become the chairman of the Investment and Trade Bureau of PKR. He was put in charge of creating economic and trade policies for the party. In that capacity he gave press conference on a variety of subjects including FGV, 1MDB and palm oil exports. He was one of the first politicians to speak out against 1MDB and in particular in the issue of 1MDB bonds in 2013. The

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

interviewed him on the subject matter and described him as a "rising star of PKR". Subsequently, he was interviewed by

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

Asian Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal Asia'', a version of ''The Wall Street Journal'', was a newspaper that provided news and analysis of global business developments for an Asian audience. Formerly known as ''The Asian Wall Street Journal'', it was founde ...

and

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and ma ...

Election to Parliament

Wong Chen was first elected to parliament in the 13th Malaysian general election, winning the seat of Kelana Jaya by defeating National Front (BN) candidate Loh Seng Kok. After the general election, he became an MP and continued to speak on the wider variety of issues including GST, 1MDB and also the general economic landscape of Malaysia. As an MP he also gave views on social and human rights issues including Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Sedition Act.

International Involvements

Internationally, Wong Chen represents the

Parliament of Malaysia The Parliament of Malaysia ( ms, Parlimen Malaysia) is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat (House of Representatives, Literal translation, lit. "People's A ...

for the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA), represents Asia-Pacific Group for Working Group on Science, Technology, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and is a member of th
ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights (APHR)

KEADILAN Central Leadership Council Member

In 2022, Wong Chen contested in the Keadilan Party Elections or known a
Pemilihan Keadilan 2022
He contested for the Central Leadership Council alongside 73 other candidates for that position consisting of other party members including Members of Parliaments and State Assemblymen. Wong Chen was elected after securing 697 votes and making it to the Top 20 for the position.

Election results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wong, Chen Living people 1968 births People from Selangor Malaysian Buddhists Malaysian Taoists Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent Malaysian people of Hakka descent 20th-century Malaysian lawyers People's Justice Party (Malaysia) politicians Members of the Dewan Rakyat 21st-century Malaysian politicians People educated at a United World College 21st-century Malaysian lawyers