Wong Tack (;

Pha̍k-fa-sṳ Pha̍k-fa-sṳ is an orthography similar to Pe̍h-ōe-jī and used to write Hakka, a variety of Chinese. Hakka is a whole branch of Chinese, and Hakka dialects are not necessarily mutually intelligible with each other, considering the large geogr ...

: ''Vòng Tet'') 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 ...

who 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

Bentong Bentong (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: ﺑﻨﺘﻮڠ), the seat of Bentong District, is a town located in western Pahang, Malaysia, at the border with the state of Selangor in the west and the state of Negeri Sembilan in the south. Government Benton ...

from May 2018 to November 2022. He is an

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 ...

and was a member of 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), 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) 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) opposition coalition.

Background

Wong was born in Seri Telemong,

Pahang Pahang (;Jawi alphabet, Jawi: , Pahang Hulu Malay: ''Paha'', Pahang Hilir Malay: ''Pahaeng'', Ulu Tembeling Malay: ''Pahaq)'' officially Pahang Darul Makmur with the Arabic honorific ''Darul Makmur'' (Jawi: , "The Abode of Tranquility") is a ...

and had stayed in

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

for a few years. He is a

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese (; Malay: ''Orang Cina Malaysia''), alternatively Chinese Malaysians, are Malaysian citizens of Han Chinese descent. They form the second largest ethnic group after the Malay majority constituting 22.4% of the Malaysian po ...

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

descent (despite the dominant dialect group in Pahang state is predominantly of

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 are ...

origin, but both subgroups share the same ancestral province in China which is

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

). In November 2018, Wong was revealed as the poorest MP in the asset declaration list with a monthly income of RM22,412.64 as shown in the

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission ( ms, Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia), abbreviated MACC or ''SPRM'', (formerly known as Anti-Corruption Agency, ACA or ''Badan Pencegah Rasuah'', ''BPR'') is a government agency in Malaysia that ...

(MACC) official website.

Environment activism

Wong was the chairperson of ''

Himpunan Hijau Himpunan Hijau (English: "Green Assembly" or "Green Rally") is a Malaysian environmentalist movement protesting against the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP), a rare earth processing plant operating in Gebeng, Kuantan, Pahang set up by the A ...

'', or ''Green Assembly'' a Malaysian environmentalist movement protesting against the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant (LAMP), a rare earth processing plant operating in Gebeng, Kuantan, Pahang which he founded in 2011. The ''Save Malaysia Stop Lynas'' (SMSL) group is currently led by Wong.

Political career

2018 general election

Wong for the first time was fielded in the 2013 general election as DAP candidate to contest the Bentong parliamentary seat and has come close to defeat the incumbent,

Malaysian Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA; zh, 马来西亚华人公会; ; ta, மலேசிய சீனர் சங்கம், initially known as the Malayan Chinese Association) is a uni-racial political party in Malaysia that seeks to ...

(MCA) president

Liow Tiong Lai Tan Sri Dato' Sri Liow Tiong Lai (; born 13 October 1961) is a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Transport, Minister of Health, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime ...

, losing by a total 379 votes. In the 2018 general election he recontested again and turned the table to defeat Liow for the Bentong parliamentary seat with a 2,032 majority.

2022 general election

On 26 October 2022, DAP announced that Wong had been dropped by the party to contest for the Bentong seat in the

2022 general election The following elections are scheduled to occur in 2022. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calendar of elections around the world. * 2022 United Nations Security Council election * 2022 national electoral calendar * 2022 local ...

. Instead, DAP decided to field its Deputy Youth Chief and Member of the

Pahang State Legislative Assembly The Pahang State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Undangan Negeri Pahang) is the unicameral state legislature of the Malaysian state of Pahang. It is composed of 42 members representing single-member constituencies throughout the state. The Asse ...

(MLA) for

Ketari Ketari is a small town in Bentong District, Pahang, Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea ...

Young Syefura Othman Yang Berhormat Young Syefura Othman (born 10 November 1989), nicknamed Rara, is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bentong since November 2022. She served as Member of the Pahang State Legislative Assembly ...

to contest for the seat. DAP Secretary-General

Anthony Loke Anthony Loke Siew Fook (; born 28 April 1977) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Transport for the second term in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since December 2022 and the f ...

justified that Young Syefura was the most winnable candidate. Loke also revealed that Wong had been offered to contest for the

Cameron Highlands The Cameron Highlands ( ms, Tanah Tinggi Cameron, , ta, கேமரன் மலை) is a district in Pahang, Malaysia, occupying an area of . To the north, its boundary touches that of Kelantan; to the west, it shares part of its border with ...

seat, Wong however had rejected it and Loke expressed his respect towards his rejection. In strong response, Wong broke ranks with the party and announced that he would seek reelection as the Bentong MP by contesting for the Bentong seat as an

candidate for the very first time, which was against the party rules and discipline as well as facing the risks of costing him the party membership. He stressed that Bentong was his hometown and there was no need for him to move away from Bentong as well as taking swipe at the party for its internal politicking and power struggles, he also distanced himself and his people from them, noting that the people have the rights to decide their own paths and destiny. Furthermore, he slammed the party for reneging on an understanding between them on allowing him to carry on championing green issues after spearheading the "Himpunan Hijau" (green gathering) movement in the 2013 general election. In addition, he praised his own track record serving as the Bentong MP from 2018 to 2022 for 4 years and renewing his strong commitment to serve Bentong and its people. Former Bentong MP Liow criticised DAP for dropping Wong, whom he said had underperformed as the Bentong MP and likening this to stealing the chance of the Bentong voters to punish Wong by not voting for him, he also described DAP as opportunistic given its decision to drop underperformed incumbents as candidates for reelection to garner more votes. On 5 November 2022, as shown and proved by his previous response, he nominated himself as the independent candidate to contest for the Bentong seat in the election. He also added that following this, he was no longer a DAP member. He also criticised "party politics", citing that party members have to listen to the instructions of party leaders, but he only believes in "people's politics" and would only listen to the instructions of the people. He also revealed that he was using the symbol of hoe on the ballot papers and likening it as "using the hoe to open the ground, plant the seeds of hope" and hoping for the support of the people. In addition, he rendered his support to

Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

, Chairman of the

(PH) and President 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)

Anwar Ibrahim Anwar bin Ibrahim ( ms, انور بن ابراهيم, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset, IPA: ; born 10 August 1947) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia since November 2022. He served as the 12 ...

as the prime minister candidate.

Election results

References

External links

* * Malaysian people of Chinese descent 1959 births Living people People from Pahang Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent Malaysian environmentalists Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians Members of the Dewan Rakyat Malaysian people of Hakka descent 21st-century Malaysian politicians {{Malaysia-politician-stub