Ngeh Koo Ham
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| Yang Berbahagia Datuk (James) Ngeh Koo Ham (Chinese:倪可汉) |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office March 8, 2008 |
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| Preceded by | Lim Keng Yaik (BN - Gerakan) |
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Member of the Perak State Legislative Assembly
for Sitiawan |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2004 |
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DAP Perak Chief
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office unknown |
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| Preceded by | unknown |
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| Political party |  Democratic Action Party - Pakatan Rakyat |
| Spouse | Cheok Foong Ling |
| Children | 3 |
| Occupation | Member of Parliament Advocate and Solicitor State Assembyman |
| Religion | Christian |
| Website | http://ngehkooham.blogspot.com |
Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham (also "James") (Chinese:倪可汉), born in 1961, is a native of Ayer Tawar, Perak, Malaysia. He is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) in Malaysia, which is a member of Socialist International. Ngeh Koo Ham is on the DAP's Central Executive Committee and is presently head of the DAP in the state of Perak.
He is Member of Parliament for Beruas, Perak after defeating Datuk Chang Ko Youn of Gerakan with a majority of 1,828 votes in the last General Elections on 8 March 2008. He has also been state assemblyman for Sitiawan, Perak since the 2004 General Election. From 2004 to 2008 he was head of the Opposition in the Perak State Assembly. In 2008, with the formation of the Perak government by the coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS (known as Pakatan Rakyat), Ngeh Koo Ham was appointed to the state executive committee as senior state executive councillor, with the portfolios of Infrastructure and Public Amenities; Energy and Water; and Non-Muslim Affairs. Perak had previously been ruled continuously by the Barisan Nasional (or its predecessor the Alliance) since the independence of Malaya (later Malaysia) in 1957.
Before his appointment as Perak senior executive councillor, he practised as a lawyer with Nga Hock Cheh and Co. (no relation) in Sitiawan before starting his own law firm, Ngeh and Co, which is headquartered in Ayer Tawar, with branches in Ipoh, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.
In one of his more famous cases during his legal career, Ngeh Koo Ham represented 'Sitiawan businessman Yong Kon Fatt, who was sued by Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) in January 2005 for refusing to pay RM1,074 for sewerage services purportedly provided to his house at Taman Samudera in Lumut'. The High Court sitting in Ipoh ruled that 'those who have made payments to IWK but had not received any sewerage services could demand refunds'. [1]
Ngeh Koo Ham first stood in the 1990 General Election against Lim Keng Yaik for the parliamentary seat of Beruas. Seen as a popular local candidate with strong grassroots support, he nevertheless lost to Lim, a powerful cabinet minister, by a narrow margin. This surprising result was suspected by many locals to be due to foul play, e.g. some said that numerous unrecognised people (suspected to be non-locals) were seen coming in to vote in the constituency. Later, in 2007, Ngeh Koo Ham stated more strongly this allegation of foul play, claiming the possession of evidence to this effect. Lim Keng Yaik has yet to respond to his challenge to deny this allegation. [2] . Ngeh Koo Ham has stood in every election since 1990.
In April 2008, in conjunction with the 80th birthday of HRH Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak, Ngeh Koo Ham was conferred the Darjah Dato Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP) which carries with it the title Datuk. He was the first actively serving DAP politician to be conferred (and accept) a Malaysian chivalrous title. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Saturday/National/2217865/Article/index_html
In contrast to his cousin Nga Kor Ming, who is widely-known as an entertaining and fiery speaker, Ngeh Koo Ham has a calmer manner of speaking which has been characterised as more 'factual' or 'intellectual'.
Ngeh Koo Ham's parents were both rubber tappers. He comes from an old Ayer Tawar Methodist family and was christened James by the late Rev. Koh Gie Bing. As a student, he was active in the Methodist Youth Fellowship and later with the Persatuan Kristian Varsiti (PKV, part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) at Universiti Malaya where he obtained his LLB. He has also served on the Local Church Executive Council (LCEC) of the Ayer Tawar Chinese Methodist Church (ATCMC) and provided legal counsel to the Methodist Church in Malaysia. He is a regular communicant member of ATCMC where he often also provides translation during Sunday worship.
Ngeh Koo Ham is an old boy of the Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar; Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) Shyr Tien, Ayer Tawar; and the (Methodist) Anglo-Chinese School, Sitiawan. He married Cheok Foong Ling from Sitiawan in 1992 and they have three children.
[edit] References
- ^ Property Times
- ^ "DAP report Malaysia", 2008-05-12. Retrieved on 2008-05-20.
