Chong Sin Woon (; born 25 December 1973) is a Malaysian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as the Deputy Minister of Education II from a Cabinet reshuffle in July 2015 to the collapse of the

Barisan Nasional Barisan Nasional (BN; ) is a political coalition of Malaysia that was founded in 1974 as a coalition of centre-right and right-wing political parties to succeed the Alliance Party. It is the third largest political coalition with 30 seats in ...

(BN) administration in May 2018. He served as a

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

from April 2014 to April 2017 for the first term and reappointed to serve from April 2017 to April 2020 for the second term until his resignation in April 2018 to contest in the 2018 General Election. He is a member of the

Malaysian Chinese Association The Malaysian Chinese Association (Abbreviation, abbrev: MCA; Malay language, Malay: ''Persatuan Cina Malaysia''), formerly known as the Malayan Chinese Association, is an ethnic List of political parties in Malaysia, political party in Malaysi ...

(MCA), a major component party of the BN coalition as well as its Secretary-General since September 2019 after the resignation of his predecessor Chew Mei Fun.

Early life

Chong was born in

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan''), historically spelled as Negri Sembilan, is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state in Malaysia which lies on the Peninsular Malaysia#Other features, wes ...

to Chong Fatt Yuen and Leaw Moi. His parents were rubber tappers. Chong is the youngest among seven siblings. As a child, Chong delivered newspapers to supplement his family's income. He attended SJKC Kuo Min and he went on to spend eight years in SM Dato Mohd Said in

Nilai Nilai is a city located in the Seremban District of the state of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, located close to the border with Selangor. It is the northern suburb within the Seremban metropolitan area, as well as part of the Greater Kuala Lumpur, ...

, Negeri Sembilan. Chong graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics from

National University of Malaysia The National University of Malaysia (, abbreviated as UKM) is a public research university located in Bandar Baru Bangi, Hulu Langat District, Selangor, Malaysia. Its teaching hospital, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC), ...

in 1999.

Political career

Upon his graduation in 1999, Chong joined MCA in 2001. He won the MCA Youth Chief's post in 2013 and appointed as a Senator in 2014. In 2015 he was appointed as Deputy Minister of Education II by the then-prime minister,

Najib Razak Mohammad Najib bin Abdul Razak (, ; born 23 July 1953) is a Malaysian politician who served as the sixth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2009 to 2018. In 2020, he was convicted of corruption in the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal, on ...

in a Cabinet reshuffle. Chong was reappointed as Senator in 2017. In

2018 Malaysian general election General elections were held in Malaysia on Wednesday, 9 May 2018. At stake were all 222 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, the lower house of parliament. The 13th Parliament was dissolved by Prime Minister Najib Razak on 7 April 2018. It would have be ...

, Chong contested for the

Seremban Seremban (Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Somban'') is a city in the Seremban District and the capital of the state of Negeri Sembilan in Peninsular Malaysia. The city's administration is run by the Seremban Municipal Council, Seremban City Council. ...

federal seat against the opposition

Democratic Action Party The Democratic Action Party (DAP; ) is a social democracy, social democratic and Secularism, secular political party in Malaysia, sitting on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. As one of four component parties of ...

(DAP) National Organising Secretary

Anthony Loke Loke Siew Fook (; born 28 April 1977) also known as Anthony Loke is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Minister of Transport for the first term in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim since Decembe ...

and was defeated. Chong and his MCA Youth concedes defeat and is ready to position itself as the opposition to "keep an eye" on the new

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

(PH) administration in 2018. In September 2019, Chew Mei Fun resigned as the Secretary-General of MCA and Chong was appointed to take over the position and has served since then. However, 21 months later in February 2020, PH collapsed due to party-hopping and was replaced with

Perikatan Nasional Perikatan Nasional (PN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Right-wing politics, right-wing and Far-right politics, far-right political parties. It is the second largest political coalition in Dewan Rakyat w ...

(PN) administration led by

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and President of the

Malaysian United Indigenous Party The Malaysian United Indigenous Party ( Malay: ''Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia''; abbrev: BERSATU or PPBM) is a nationalist political party in Malaysia. The party was preceded by the United Indigenous Association of Malaysia ( Malay: ) and ...

(BERSATU)

Muhyiddin Yassin Mahiaddin bin Md Yasin (born 15 May 1947), commonly known as Muhyiddin bin Mohd Yassin (; ), is a Malaysian politician who served as the eighth Prime Minister of Malaysia from 2020 to 2021. Appointed as prime minister amid a 2020–2022 Malay ...

in March 2020. MCA, which is in BN, is aligned with PN and hence he was appointed Chairman of the Port Klang Authority by the PN administration in April 2020.

Controversy

On 5 November 2017, Chong has apologised for his insensitive '' 'tokong' '' or 'deity-like' remarks and jibe he had made over Penang Chief Minister

Lim Guan Eng Lim Guan Eng (; born 8 December 1960) is a Malaysian politician and accountant who served as the Minister of Finance of Malaysia from 2018 to 2020. A member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), he has served as the party's second advisor si ...

in his speech during the 64th MCA general assembly amid Penang's devastating floods situation.

Election results

Honours

* : **

MY-MAL Exalted Order of Malacca - Companion 2nd Class ribbon

Companion Class II of the Exalted Order of Malacca (DPSM) – Datuk (2016)

References