Wong Chin Huat
Wong Chin Huat is a Malaysian political scientist, an university lecturer, a political activist and a columnist.
Obtaining his undergraduate degree from Universiti Malaya, he completed his Master's degree at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and in 2012 was awarded his PhD on electoral system and party politics in West Malaysia between 1982 and 2004 at the University of Essex.[1][2] He is currently attached to Penang Institute, a think tank linked to the DAP and Penang State Government.[2]
He is known among the wider public as a columnist at a Malaysian online news organization called The Nut Graph, as a spokesperson for an electoral reform pressure group known as Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih) and the chairman of a non-governmental organization called Writers Alliance for Media Independence.[3][4]
Issues
He has written and spoken on multiple national issues. Among of them are local election, federalism, press freedom and voting system.[1]
Suqiu
Prior to his pursuit of PhD in UK, he worked for a Chinese-community reformist group Suqiu (The Malaysian Chinese Organization Election Appeals Committee) as its executive secretary from May 2000 to March 2001. Suqiu was attacked by the then Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad as a threat to national security comparable to communist insurgents and religious fanatics in his 2000 National Day address. In that capacity, Wong was one of the civil society pioneers in lobbying parliamentarians.
Press activism
Wong cut his teeth as a political columnist and freelanced writer for Nanyang Siang Pao from 1998 to 2001. Together with over 90 other writers, Wong quit writing for all the four major Chinese-language national dailies in May 2001 when the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) forcibly took over the Nanyang Press (controlling Nanyang Siang Pao and China Press) with the tacit help of Sin Chew Media group (controlling Sin Chew Daily and Guang Ming Daily). The group later formed the Writer Alliance for Media Independence (WAMI), which Wong became its chairperson since 2006.
Due to his opposition to the monopoly, with Sin Chew boss Tiong Hew King now controlling all the four major Chinese-language national dailies, Wong and his colleagues like Tang Ah Chai and Josh Hong are constantly blacked out by these dailies especially Sin Chew Daily.[citation needed] Nevertheless, Wong's arrest did appear in Tiong's newspapers.
On the eve of the 1999 general elections, Wong and a few other writers like Teoh Kian Hoon, Fong Wai Foong, Teh Hoon Seng, Lee Wing Keat and the late Ng Boon Jieh launched a trilingual declaration of citizen awareness titled "People are the Boss", using simple business language to explain the concept of democracy. Formulated to counter Dr Mahathir's argument that people should be thankful to the government, the concept is now widely used ten years later, even by Barisan Nasional leaders.
Arrest under Sedition Act and subsequent protests
Bersih launched 1BlackMalaysia campaign on May 5, 2009 as an act of civil disobedience in protesting to what it called as an "ongoing Perak coup" by Barisan Nasional.[5] Wong was one of the representatives present at the launch of the campaign.
In the evening of the same day, Wong was arrested by the police for sedition under Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act 1948 for several articles. He was eventually remanded for 4 days before release.[6]
His arrest prompted protests in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kuching.[7] Further arrests were made by the police for assembling illegally.[8] The further arrests later created a controversy where the police arrested several legal counsels who were trying to defend the detainees. Approximately 200 lawyers gathered and protested against the arrests of legal counsels in the next day.[9]
No charge however was filed and all were released in matter of days.[10]
Mugging at Petaling Jaya
While jogging in the morning of 9 June 2012, Wong Chin Huat was allegedly attacked by 5 young men riding motorbikes. The attack left Wong Chin Huat with injuries to the face.[11] When asked to comment on the incident, Wong inevitably blamed the Malaysian police for not protecting him. The Bersih leader was examined at Universiti of Malaya Medical Centre. [12]
References
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
personalPagewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b "Imagining Malaysia: Wong Chin Huat". Monash University. Retrieved 2009-05-09. [dead link]
- ^ "Our Contributors". The Nut Graph. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Wong's students gather to show support". The Nut Graph. Retrieved 2009-05-09. [dead link]
- ^ "1BLACKMalaysia campaign for Perak". The Nut Graph. 2009-05-05. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
- ^ "Bersih activist and supporters freed, ISA detainees next". The Star. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Urgent Appeal Update". Suaram. 2009-05-08.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Five lawyers, Bersih's Wong released". The Malaysian Insider. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Lawyers gather to protest arrest of colleagues". The Malaysian Insider. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Bersih activist and supporters freed, ISA detainees next". The Star. 2009-05-08. Retrieved 2009-05-09.
- ^ "Bersih leader blames police for bloody mugging". The Malaysian Insider. 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
- ^ "Bersih leader blames police for bloody mugging". The Malaysian Insider. 2012-06-09. Retrieved 2012-06-09.
External links
- People are the boss. Blog of Wong Chin Huat.
- Suqui in Chinese. Suqui in Chinese (Original text).
- Suqui in English.. Suqui in English.
- Suqui in Malay.. Suqui in Malay.