Dr. Boo Cheng Hau (; born 1 October 1964) 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 regar ...

politician of

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party ( abbreviation: DAP; ms, Parti Tindakan Demokratik; ; ta, ஜனநாயக செயல் கட்சி) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Malaysia. As one of four component parties of th ...

(DAP). He has served as Member of the

Johor State Legislative Assembly The Johor State Legislative Assembly ( ms, Dewan Negeri Johor) is the unicameral legislature of the Malaysian state of Johor. It is composed of 56 members who are elected from single-member constituencies throughout the state. Elections are hel ...

(MLA) of

Skudai Skudai (also spelled Sekudai) is a suburb in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia. Skudai is part of the new growth corridor of southwest Johor. Its population ranges between 160,000 and 210,000. It houses the Paradigm Mall Joh ...

for two terms from March 2008 to May 2018.

Background and personal life

Dr. Boo is a family physician who holds three bachelor degrees in Chemistry from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the ...

of Ames; the Medicine and Surgery from

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

of Jamaica and Law from

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degre ...

respectively. He is a practicing medical doctor by profession. On 25 October 2011, his clinic in Taman Universiti,

, Johor Bahru, was broken into resulting with a loss of RM800. The

Royal Malaysia Police The Royal Malaysia Police (often abbreviated RMP) ( ms, Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM)), is a (primarily) uniformed national and federal police force in Malaysia. The force is a centralised organisation. Its headquarters are located at Bukit Aman ...

(RMP)'s Deputy Johor CID chief, ACP Che Yusoff Che Ngah said the incident involved a clinic worker noticed about 8 am before the police received a report about an hour later. Dr Boo when interviewed, said the incident involved the first time since the clinic opened 13 years ago. In December 2020, Dr. Boo was tested positive for the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

and had recovered from the decease infection since.

Politics

He previously and first contested the

state seat in

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime b ...

on the DAP party ticket in the 1999 general election and the 2004 general election but had lost both the contests to the

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). In the 2008 general election, he contested the Skudai state seat again and won to be an assemblyman for Skudai constituency. He retained the seat in the following

2013 general election Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

(GE13). He has been the opposition leader for representing

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 ( ...

(PR) in Johor State Legislative Assembly from 2008 till 2015. Dr. Boo was not nominated by DAP as a candidate to contest in the 2018 general election (GE14).

Controversies and issues

In February 2013, an open verbal conflict erupted between Dr. Boo as Johor DAP chairman and Johor

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 p ...

(PKR) chairman

Chua Jui Meng Dato' Chua Jui Meng (; born 22 October 1943) is a Malaysian politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) of Dewan Rakyat for the Bakri constituency in the State of Johor for five terms from 1986 to 2008. He was the country's longest serv ...

, prompting calls from both DAP and PKR party heavyweights to weigh in for their party stalwarts. This as a result of accusations from either side of splitting

in the state of Johor. The conflict was resolved after talks and mediation by the central leadership of both parties for reconciliation was DAP to unconditionally support for PKR's Chua to contest in the

Segamat Segamat ( Jawi: سڬامت Chinese: 昔加末) is a town located in the Segamat District, Johor, Malaysia. It is 95 km travel distance via North–South Expressway from Johor Bahru to Yong Peng, and another 77 km from Federal Route 1. Str ...

constituency in GE13. The traditionally DAP seat was switched for

Gelang Patah Gelang Patah is a suburb in Iskandar Puteri, Johor Bahru District, Johor, Malaysia. It was administered by ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional for over 5 decades until the 13th Malaysian General Elections. One of its schools, Sekolah Menengah ...

seat which was where the Skudai state seat located; in order to be contested and later won by its adviser and veteran

Lim Kit Siang Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a Malaysian politician. He is the longest-serving leader of the opposition in Malaysia, having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions. He is also former Secretary-Genera ...

to be its new

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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) instead. In 2018, Dr. Boo on the contrary turned down the party's plan to field him in the

Labis Labis is town and a mukim (township) in Segamat District in northern Johor, Malaysia. A main trunk road that runs north-south Peninsular Malaysia passes through it, as well as the KTM railway line that connects it with the state's capital in th ...

parliamentary seat which is in

district, Johor and subsequently he was also dropped as candidate to contest his existing Skudai state seat or any other seat in the GE14. Meanwhile DAP replacement candidate for the Labis seat, another former Johor DAP chairman

Pang Hok Liong Pang Hok Liong (; born 22 July 1957) is a Malaysian politician who has served the Member of Parliament (MP) for Labis since May 2018. He served as the Member of the Johor State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Bekok from October 1990 to April ...

had instead successfully win the traditional

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 List of political parties in Malaysia, pol ...

(MCA)-BN stronghold for the first time to be a newly elected MP. Amidst being disappointed, Dr. Boo apparently remains loyal to DAP despite his continuous criticism of the party's leadership and Kit Siang, the new MP for

Iskandar Puteri Iskandar Puteri is a city which functions as the administrative capital of the state of Johor, Malaysia ( Kota Iskandar) and represents the seat of government of the state of Johor (Executive branch & Legislative branch). Situated along the St ...

(formerly Gelang Patah). In 2021, Dr. Boo had made critical and controversially remarks in a Johor DAP private

WhatsApp WhatsApp (also called WhatsApp Messenger) is an internationally available freeware, cross-platform, centralized instant messaging (IM) and voice-over-IP (VoIP) service owned by American company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook). It allows user ...

group towards his party MP,

Hannah Yeoh Hannah Yeoh Tseow Suan (; born 9 January 1979) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Youth and Sports in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since December 2022. Previously, she serv ...

for

Segambut Segambut is a sub-district and a parliamentary constituency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. From the high-end condominiums of Mont Kiara and Sri Hartamas to the middle-class areas of Taman Sri Segambut and Bandar Manjalara, and the rural areas ...

actions for donning the headscarf or '''selendang' ''and her Malay attire when she was visiting a mosque in her constituency. In response, DAP secretary-general,

Lim Guan Eng Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition who has served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan, Member of ...

said Yeoh's attire was not wrong to respect other religions and their worship places in reprimanding and slamming Dr. Boo remarks which are not only gender-insensitive but also runs the risk of portraying DAP leaders as being just as intolerant and regressive as the "extremist" and "primitive"

Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party The Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS; ms, Parti Islam Se-Malaysia; ms, ڤرتي إسلام سمليسيا, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset) is an Islamist political party in Malaysia. As the party focused on Islamic fundamentalism, PAS's ...

(PAS) leaders. Dr. Boo remains to be adamant and polemical accused it as an "superficial political gimmicks" attempt to "appease a certain race", while he opined that DAP should be sincere and equal towards every race.

Election results

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boo, Cheng Hau 1964 births Living people People from Johor People from Johor Bahru Malaysian people of Chinese descent Malaysian medical doctors Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians Leaders of the Opposition in the Johor State Legislative Assembly Members of the Johor State Legislative Assembly Iowa State University alumni University of the West Indies alumni Alumni of the University of London 21st-century Malaysian politicians