Wee Choo Keong
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Wee Choo Keong (; born 26 June 1953) 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. He was 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 ...
for
Bukit Bintang Bukit Bintang (; stylised as Bintang Walk or Starhill, the latter being a translation of the Malay language, Malay name) is the shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It encompasses Jalan Bukit Bintang (''Bukit Bintang ...
from 1990 to 1995 and for
Wangsa Maju Wangsa Maju is a township and a constituency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This area is surrounded by Setapak, Taman Melati and Gombak district in Selangor. Wangsa Maju is one of the largest townships in Kuala Lumpur and consists of many sections ...
from 2008 to 2013. Wee had been 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) before being expelled in 1998. He then went on to form the
Malaysian Democratic Party The Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP, ms, Parti Demokratik Malaysia) was a political party in Malaysia formed by Wee Choo Keong in 1998, after he was expelled from Democratic Action Party (DAP) due to his fall-out and failed revolt against then ...
(MDP) the same year. In 2008 he left the party to join 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) before becoming 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 ...
in 2010.Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong quits PKR but remains as MP
The Star. 14 May 2010
Wee was appointed as Tourism Malaysia chairperson by the then ruling
Barisan Nasional The National Front ( ms, Barisan Nasional; abbrev: BN) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1973 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties. It is also the third largest political coalition with 30 se ...
(BN) government on 17 June 2015.Gov't coughed up RM400k for Yen Yen's yen for trips
Malaysiakini. Published 22 Dec 2015 7:52 am Updated 22 Dec 2015 7:56 am


Political career


Democratic Action Party

Wee started his political career as a member of the
DAP DAP or Dap may refer to: Science * DAP (gene), human gene that encodes death-associated proteins, which mediate programmed cell death * Diamidophosphate, phosphorylating compound * Diaminopimelic acid, amino acid derivative of lysine * Diamin ...
contesting in 1986 general election and he was elected as member of parliament for the
Bukit Bintang Bukit Bintang (; stylised as Bintang Walk or Starhill, the latter being a translation of the Malay language, Malay name) is the shopping and entertainment district of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It encompasses Jalan Bukit Bintang (''Bukit Bintang ...
constituency (earlier was Kuala Lumpur Bandar before been renamed) in 1990 general election."Choo Keong: Flying Dutchman no more" by Terence Netto
Malaysiakini ''Malaysiakini'' (meaning in English: "Malaysia Now") is an online news portal published in Malay, English, Chinese and Tamil. Malaysiakini receives over 2.3 million page-views per day on desktop and mobile. Alexa ranked ''malaysiakini.com'' ...
, 25 February 2008
In 1993, an injunction was issued against Wee and two other defendants from "printing, circulating or publishing any allegation of impropriety about the companies" after a case was brought by MBf alleging the defendants "unlawfully conspired with each other with the predominant purpose of injuring the companies by unlawful means".The Star "Ex-Bukit Bintang MP wins appeal" 13 April 2007 MBf later applied to have the defendants (including Wee) held in contempt of court for failing to obey the injunction. The application succeeded against Wee and another of his co-defendants and Wee was eventually ordered to pay a RM7,000 fine on appeal. The injunction against Wee brought by MBf was set aside in 2007 with the Court of Appeal ruling "The injunction was too wide in its terms and almost oppressive". He later sought damages against MBf and AmBank (who had acquired MBf) for loss of income due his inability to be an MP and the damage to his professional standing as a lawyer.


Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP)

Wee was removed from the Bukit Bintang seat in 1995 after a controversial court case which nullified his re-election that year due to the fine he had received. He was ejected from the DAP in 1998 after being accused of damaging the party's image and went on to form the
Malaysian Democratic Party The Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP, ms, Parti Demokratik Malaysia) was a political party in Malaysia formed by Wee Choo Keong in 1998, after he was expelled from Democratic Action Party (DAP) due to his fall-out and failed revolt against then ...
(MDP). He later attempted to join
Parti Keadilan Rakyat 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) but was rejected by the party who stated at the time they did not want renegades from DAP. Due to the ruling against him in the 1995 court case, he was unable to contest the 1999 election.Former MP sues MBf, AmBank for RM39m
New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...
, 4 October 2007
He contested the 2004 elections but did not even receive enough votes to keep his deposit. Wee Choo Keong was later referred to by V.K. Lingam in the Lingam tape. After the video tape was made public in 2007, Wee stated he intended to file for judicial review of the 1995 decision. Later, he also lodged a report with Suhakam over the tape arguing it demonstrated his human rights had been infringed.


People's Justice Party (PKR)

Before the 2008 general election, although still a member of the MDP, he was invited to join the PKR under the de facto leadership of
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 ...
and contest the Wangsa Maju constituency which he later won with a slim majority of 150.


Independent

In May 2010, Wee left PKR to sit in Parliament as 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 ...
, citing disappointment with the PKR-led state government in
Selangor Selangor (; ), also known by its Arabic language, Arabic honorific Darul Ehsan, or "Abode of Sincerity", is one of the 13 Malaysian states. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east ...
's handling of the Dengkil sand mining scandal and the influence of what he called "little Napoleons and trendy leftists" in the party. He did not recontest his seat in the 2013 general election.


Joining Warisan

Wee was reported that he will also make a return appearance with Warisan in GE15 contesting for
Wangsa Maju Wangsa Maju is a township and a constituency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This area is surrounded by Setapak, Taman Melati and Gombak district in Selangor. Wangsa Maju is one of the largest townships in Kuala Lumpur and consists of many sections ...
under Warisan Banner.


Election results

Initially, the Returning Officer had declared Wee Choo Keong as the elected representative for Bukit Bintang at the night of 25 April 1995. However, Lee Chong Meng filed his petition to nullify the election due to the fact that Wee had been convicted of the offence of contempt of Court and fined RM7,000, and hence disqualified to be a Member of Parliament under the provisions of Article 48(l)(e) of the Federal Constitution. Election was declared null and void. The Federal Court had made such a controversial decision to declare Lee Chong Meng as the rightful winner. The appeal was dismissed by the Court of Appeal. No by-election was held by the Election Commission of Malaysia. Wee has contested and won the Wangsa Maju seat under the ticket of PKR but left to be an Independent in 2010.


Honours

* : ** Crown of Kelantan Decoration (SMK) (1997)


References


External links


Official blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wee, Choo Keong 1953 births Living people People from Kelantan Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent Malaysian Buddhists 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Malaysian political party founders Independent politicians in Malaysia People's Justice Party (Malaysia) politicians Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians Malaysian Democratic Party politicians Members of the Dewan Rakyat