Louis Ng Kok Kwang ( zh, s=黄国光, p=Huáng Guóguāng; born 8 December 1978) is a Singaporean politician,

animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...

and

environmental activist The environmental movement (sometimes referred to as the ecology movement), also including conservation and green politics, is a diverse philosophical, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues. Environmentalists advo ...

. A member of the governing

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 has been 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 o ...

(MP) representing the Nee Soon East division of

Nee Soon GRC The Nee Soon Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency (GRC) in the north region of Singapore. The GRC includes most of Yishun town, the private residential areas along Sembawang Road and Upper Thomso ...

since 2015. He is also the founder of

ACRES The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square ...

Education

Ng attended St. Gabriel's Secondary School and

Catholic Junior College Catholic Junior College (CJC) () is a junior college in Singapore, offering a two-year course for pre-university students leading to the Singapore-Cambridge GCE Advanced Level examination. Founded in 1975, Catholic Junior College was the third ju ...

before graduating from the National University of Singapore in 2002 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

. He also completed a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast t ...

degree in

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and managem ...

at Oxford Brookes University.

Career

While still an undergraduate in 2001, Ng founded

Animal Concerns Research and Education Society Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) is a non-governmental organisation and a registered animal welfare charity with the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) in Singapore. It aims to raise awareness of animal welfare ...

(ACRES), an animal protection organisation aimed at fostering a spirit of volunteerism and working with the community to create much-needed awareness on animal protection issues. Upon graduating from the National University of Singapore in 2002, he began full-time work in ACRES, leading ACRES from a volunteer-run organisation to one with over 20 full-time staff and over S$1 million in funding in 2014.

Political career

On 26 August 2015, the governing

(PAP) announced that Ng would be part of a five-member PAP team contesting in

in the 2015 general election. Ng was elected into Parliament following the after the five-member PAP team won 66.83% of the vote. On 24 August 2020, he was appointed as Chair of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Sustainability and Environment in the 14th Parliament. In March 2021, the Singapore police announced they were investigating Ng for a possible offense under the

Public Order Act Public Order Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Malaysia, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, relating to public order offences. List Hong Kong *The ...

of organising a public assembly without a permit. The alleged offense occurred when Ng visited a

hawker centre A hawker centre or cooked food centre is an open-air complex commonly found in Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They were built to provide a more sanitary alternative to mobile hawker carts and contain many stalls that sell different variet ...

in 2020 and held up a placard calling for the public to support hawkers. The Public Order Act makes it an offense to take part in a public assembly without a police permit. According to the ''

Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...

'', "Under the Act, an 'assembly' means a gathering or meeting with the purpose of demonstrating support for, or opposing the views or actions of any person, group or government. It also applies to publicising a cause or campaign, marking or commemorating any event, and includes a demonstration by a person alone." In October 2022, the

Attorney-General's Chambers In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

announced that the investigation had concluded and no further action would be taken against Ng, stating: "Investigations have revealed that Mr Ng was exercising his duty as a Member of Parliament, in expressing care and support for the welfare of the hawkers in his constituency during the COVID-19 pandemic."

Awards

* In 2002, Ng received the HSBC/NYAA Youth Environmental (Merit) Award. * In 2007, Ng was presented with The Outstanding Young Persons of Singapore Award. * On 5 August 2011, Ng received the Yahoo! Singapore 9 Award (NGO category) which recognises 9 influential and inspiring Singaporeans from the past year. * On 30 August 2014, Ng was awarded Advocate of the Year at the inaugural Singapore Advocacy Awards.

Personal life

Ng's father, Robert Ng, is a division manager in an equipment firm, while his mother, Angela Quek, is a retired civil servant. He has an elder sister. Ng's love for animals started when he was a child. He would go to Ang Mo Kio library after school and borrow books with animal themes. Wanting to become a

veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

when he was younger, he volunteered with the

Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals A Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is a common name for non-profit animal welfare organizations around the world. The oldest SPCA organization is the RSPCA, which was founded in England in 1824. SPCA organizations operate i ...

and at the zoo. At the age of 14, he gave up eating turtle soup, shark's fin and stingray, after watching TV shows about animals' protection. In 2000, he became a full vegetarian. His wife Amy Corrigan and daughter Ella are both vegetarian as well. When he set up the animal welfare group ACRES in 2001, his parents were worried about his future. His father "could not see a career in ACRES" as he was just drawing a monthly salary of S$500. However, both parents were supportive.

References

External links

Louis Ng
on Parliament of Singapore {{DEFAULTSORT:Ng, Louis 1978 births Living people Members of the Parliament of Singapore Catholic Junior College alumni National University of Singapore alumni Alumni of Oxford Brookes University People's Action Party politicians Singaporean politicians of Chinese descent Animal welfare workers