Yeap Ghim Guan (1941 – 12 March 2007) is a Malaysian British-trained

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

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 ...

. His political career began in

Penang Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia along the Strait of Malacca. It has two parts: Penang Island, where the capital city, George Town, is located, and Seberang Perai on the Malay Peninsula. Th ...

in the 1960s; Yeap served as state assemblyman for Kelawei for one term from 1969 to 1974. He was one of the founder members of the

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), and served as the party's Penang chairman from 1965 to 1977. However, he left DAP after a bitter power struggle with the then secretary general

Lim Kit Siang Lim Kit Siang (; born 20 February 1941) is a retired Malaysian politician. Having held the position for a total of 29 years on three separate occasions, he is the longest-serving leader of the opposition, as well the second longest-serving m ...

and co-founded two minor

political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. These were the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) in 1978 in which his main ally was fellow DAP exile Fan Yew Teng, and the Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP) in 1999, which was led by another DAP renegade Wee Choo Keong. Yeap was well known for his aggressiveness, uncompromising stance and remarkable oratory skill. He once presented a 10-hour speech at the Penang Legislative Assembly in the 1970s. Another famous stunt was pledging to dive off the

Penang Bridge The is a dual carriageway toll bridge and controlled-access highway in the Malaysian state of Penang. It connects Perai on the mainland side of the state with Gelugor on the island, crossing the Penang Strait. The bridge was the first a ...

if the then

Chief Minister of Penang The chief minister of Penang is the head of government in the Malaysian state of Penang. According to convention, the chief minister is the leader of the majority party or largest coalition party of the Penang State Legislative Assembly. The ch ...

, Tun

Lim Chong Eu Lim Chong Eu (; 28 May 1919 – 24 November 2010) was a Malaysian politician who served as the 2nd Chief Minister of Penang from May 1969 to October 1990 and the longest serving Chief Minister of Penang. He was also the founding president of ...

, could successfully build Penang Bridge. He failed to fulfill this pledge when the bridge was completed. However, his aggressive style ultimately proved to be his downfall; in 1974 he tore a poster of the then

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 ...

Tun

Abdul Razak Hussein Abdul Razak bin Dato’ Hussein (; 11 March 1922 – 14 January 1976) was a Malaysian lawyer and politician who served as the second prime minister of Malaysia from 1970 until his death in 1976. He also served as the first Deputy Prime Minis ...

shaking hands with

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

after the former's ground-breaking trip to the People's Republic of China. Yeap's move was deemed disrespectful, particularly among older

Malaysian Chinese Malaysian Chinese, Chinese Malaysians, or Sino-Malaysians are Malaysians, Malaysian citizens of Chinese people, Chinese ethnicity. They form the second-largest ethnic group in Malaysia, after the Malaysian Malays, Malay majority, and , const ...

. After the incident, the quarrel with Lim Kit Siang and subsequent exit from the DAP, Yeap's political prominence gradually faded. His other attempts to launch new parties were never as successful as the DAP. He died on 12 March 2007 after two years of long illness due to

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

Election results

References

* Tan, J., "Passing of a fiery politician", ''The Star'', 14 March 2007 * 1941 births 2007 deaths Malaysian politicians of Chinese descent 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians Former Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians Members of the Penang State Legislative Assembly {{Malaysia-politician-stub