Richard Ho Ung Hun
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Dato' Datuk (or its variant Dato or Datu) is a Malay title commonly used in Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia, as well as a traditional title by Minangkabau people in West Sumatra, Indonesia. The title of the wife of Datuk is Datin. Origin The oldes ...
Richard Ho Ung Hun (; 20 January 1927 – 4 February 2008) was a
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
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
. In the course of his career, he served as a
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...
,
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), cabinet minister, chairman of
Maybank Malayan Banking Berhad (doing business as Maybank) is a Malaysian universal bank, with key operating "home markets" of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. According to the 2020 Brand Finance report, Maybank is Malaysia's most valuable bank b ...
Finance and deputy chairman of
Malayan Banking Malayan Banking Berhad (doing business as Maybank) is a Malaysian universal bank, with key operating "home markets" of Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. According to the 2020 Brand Finance report, Maybank is Malaysia's most valuable bank b ...
, and as a director of several
publicly listed A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in Over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) comp ...
companies in Malaysia.


Early life and legal career

Ho was born in
Sitiawan Sitiawan (alternate spelling: Setiawan; origin: from Malay, a portmanteau of '' Setia Kawan'', meaning "Loyal Friend") is a mukim and town in Manjung District, Perak, Malaysia. The region spans an area of . In the year 2000, the population w ...
,
Perak Perak () is a state of Malaysia on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula. Perak has land borders with the Malaysian states of Kedah to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, and Selangor to the south. Thailand's ...
. His father was a preacher. He began his career as a teacher. He later joined the public service under the colonial British government as a court interpreter. After resigning as an Assistant District Officer in Malacca in his early 30s, Ho left for the United Kingdom where he pursued his law degree, being called as a barrister of the
Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...
in England in 1961, at the age of 34. The same year Ho was called to the High Court of Malaya as an advocate and
solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...
.


Political career

In 1969, in what was considered a feat, Ho, then 42, stood as a "favourite son of Sitiawan" under the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) ticket and successfully wrested the ruling Alliance coalition's blue ribbon
Sitiawan Sitiawan (alternate spelling: Setiawan; origin: from Malay, a portmanteau of '' Setia Kawan'', meaning "Loyal Friend") is a mukim and town in Manjung District, Perak, Malaysia. The region spans an area of . In the year 2000, the population w ...
parliamentary seat from Kam Woon Wah, the secretary-general of the then powerful
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), a senior partner of the governing Alliance (later became National Front or Barisan Nasional in 1973) coalition. Later Ho together with another DAP's MP Walter Loh Poh Khan of
Setapak Setapak is a mukim in Gombak District, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Formerly a tin-mining and rubber estate area, in Malay ''tapak'' means 'step' so ''Setapak'' means 'one step', probably referring to the close proximity of the suburb to Kuala Lu ...
, had crossed over to MCA on 18 May 1972. Ho successfully retained the formerly Sitiawan which was renamed as Lumut) seat where the
Royal Malaysian Navy The Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN, ms, Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia; TLDM; Jawi: ) is the naval arm of the Malaysian Armed Forces. RMN is the main agency responsible for the country's maritime surveillance and defense operations. RMN's area of o ...
base is located in the
1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
) and 1978 general elections for the ruling National Front coalition as he moved up the political ladder from the age of 47 as Deputy Works Minister and later Deputy Minister of Road Transport (1974), Deputy Finance Minister (1976), Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (1977-1978) and Minister of Labour and Manpower (1978-1982). Ho was dropped in 1982 general election as the ruling coalition's candidate in an intra-MCA intrigue involving powerful forces who finally removed MCA president Dato’ (as he then was, later Tan Sri)
Lee San Choon Lee San Choon (; 24 March 1935 – 3 March 2023) was a Malaysian politician and businessman. He was the fourth president of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a major component party of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (BN) from 1975 to ...
, also a Cabinet Minister. This was despite Ho, who had earlier married at the age of 55, having steadily moved up the MCA ladder till becoming the MCA deputy president to Lee by then. Dato’ Lee, believing his ambitious aides that Ho's active traversing the country meant he was eyeing his top job, was used by them who actually eyed Tan Sri Lee's job. According to his confidante and close friend of more than 40 years standing, newspaper editor-turned-New Zealand-trained lawyer Tan Ban Cheng of Penang, “Dato’ Ho never wanted to be MCA president. He moved into his position as deputy by the force of circumstance and had always supported Tan Sri Lee.” An insider noted that it was Ho's resignation as MCA deputy president the very day after Nomination Day for the 1982 general election that triggered the fight between the academician and incumbent Cabinet Minister Dato’
Neo Yee Pan Neo Yee Pan (1938 – 5 March 2020) was a Malaysian politician, former Member of Parliament representing Muar (1974–1983) former Secretary General (1975–1979) and acting President of the MCA in Malaysia (1983–1984). He served as Housing ...
and businessman Tan Koon Swan factions. Unable to resolve the claims of the contending ambitions of the Tan and Neo factions, Tan Sri Lee resigned in 1983, sending the MCA into an almost three-year-long crisis that culminated in the eventual rise of Dr (now Tun Dato Seri Dr)
Ling Liong Sik Tun Dr. Ling Liong Sik (; born 18 September 1943) is a retired Malaysian politician. He was the sixth president of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and also the former Malaysian Minis ...
over the ambitious Datuk Neo and architect and incumbent Cabinet Minister Datuk Mak Hon Kam both of whom fell out as the crisis widened.


Post political career

In late 1982, already out of the political arena, Ho was appointed concurrently as the vice-chairman of the Maybank board and chairman of its finance subsidiary. Ho's confidante, Mr. Tan, described Ho as "a man of many parts, always humble, approachable, helpful and caring." Ho, said Penang-based Tan, showed his talents as a linguist, politician, public administrator and banker – “his last role as banker acquired at the age of 56 needed a steep learning curve.”


Personal life

Ho married Datin Mary Heng when he was 55. The couple had two children, Ignatius and Cecelia. He died at the age of 81, on February 4, 2008.


Election results


Honours

* : ** Knight Commander of the
Order of the Perak State Crown The Most Illustrious Order of the Perak State Crown (Malay language, Malay:''Darjah Kebesaran Mahkota Negeri Perak Yang Amat Mulia'') is knighthood order of the Sultanate of Perak. Background It was founded by Sultan Yusuf Izzuddin Shah on 12 D ...
(DPMP) – Dato' (1978)


See also

* Sitiawan (federal constituency) * Lumut (federal constituency)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ho, Richard 1927 births 2008 deaths Government ministers of Malaysia 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Members of Lincoln's Inn Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent People from Sitiawan People from Perak Former Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians Malaysian Chinese Association politicians Members of the Dewan Rakyat