Koh Tsu Koon | |
|---|---|
| 许子根 | |
.jpg) Koh in 2011 | |
| Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Unity & Performance Management | |
| In office 10 April 2009 – 15 May 2013 Serving with Idris Jala | |
| Monarchs | Mizan Zainal Abidin Abdul Halim |
| Prime Minister | Najib Razak |
| Deputy | Devamany S. Krishnasamy |
| Preceded by | Shafie Apdal as Minister of National Unity, Arts, Culture and Heritage |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Kurup |
| Constituency | Senator |
| 3rd Chief Minister of Penang | |
| In office 25 October 1990 – 11 March 2008 | |
| Prime Minister | Mahathir Mohamad Abdullah Ahmad Badawi |
| Governor | Hamdan Sheikh Tahir Abdul Rahman Abbas |
| Deputy | Ibrahim Saad (1990–1995) Mohd Shariff Omar (1995–1999) Hilmi Yahaya (1999–2004) Abdul Rashid Abdullah (2004–2008) |
| Preceded by | Lim Chong Eu |
| Succeeded by | Lim Guan Eng |
| Constituency | Tanjong Bunga |
| 4th President of Malaysian People's Movement Party | |
| In office 4 October 2008 – 16 May 2013 | |
| Deputy | Chang Ko Youn |
| Preceded by | Lim Keng Yaik |
| Succeeded by | Chang Ko Youn (Acting) Mah Siew Keong |
| Constituency | Tanjong |
| Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Tanjong | |
| In office 26 April 1982 – 3 August 1986 | |
| Preceded by | Wong Hoong Keat (Gerakan—BN) |
| Succeeded by | Lim Kit Siang (DAP) |
| Majority | 834 (1982) |
| Member of the Penang State Legislative Assembly for Tanjong Bunga | |
| In office 21 October 1990 – 8 March 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Khoo Boo Yeang (Gerakan—BN) |
| Succeeded by | Teh Yee Cheu (DAP) |
| Majority | 1,012 (1990) 7,703 (1995) 6,861 (1999) 6,224 (2004) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Koh Tsu Koon 26 August 1949 Penang, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) |
| Citizenship | Malaysian |
| Political party | Malaysian People's Movement Party (GERAKAN) |
| Other political affiliations | Barisan Nasional (BN) Perikatan Nasional (PN) |
| Spouse(s) | Chui Kah Peng (徐嘉平, deceased) |
| Children | 1 son, 18 daughters |
| Alma mater | Princeton University University of Chicago |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Educator |
| Nickname | Golden Grasshopper |
Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon (born 26 August 1949; simplified Chinese: 许子根; traditional Chinese: 許子根; pinyin: Xǔ Zǐgēn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khó͘ Chú-kun) is a Malaysian politician. He was the Chief Minister of Penang from 1990 to 2008 and was appointed as a Senator; a member of the Dewan Negara, the upper house of the Malaysian Parliament. In April 2009, Koh was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department by Prime Minister Najib Razak. He was famously known for contributing in the Sungai Pinang campaign where he took almost 10 years and failed to complete it.
He was the fourth president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan), a member of the opposition Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, and also the first President of Gerakan not named a candidate in the Malaysian General Election.[1]
Koh Tsu Koon was born in Penang in 1949 and attended Phor Tay Primary School, Chung Ling High School and Methodist Boys' School. He graduated from Princeton University in 1970 with a degree in physics, and obtained his PhD from the University of Chicago in 1977 in economics and sociology of education. He was a Fulbright scholar at Stanford University from 1980 to 1981.
Koh taught at University of Science, Malaysia (USM), Penang from 1975 and rose to become Deputy Dean of Education in 1978.[2][3]
Koh joined Gerakan in 1982. He won a parliamentary seat during the 1982 general election but lost it to Lim Kit Siang in the following 1986 general election.[4] The following year, he was elected Gerakan Youth chairman. Koh was the protégé of then Penang Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu, serving as Lim's political secretary and chief aide from 1986 to 1990.[2]
Koh became a vice-president of Gerakan in 1991 and later deputy president in 2005. On 8 April 2007, following the retirement of long-serving president Lim Keng Yaik, he took over the presidency in an acting capacity. He was formally elected president in 2008.[2]
In the 1990 general election, Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu lost his state seat. Koh, who was a first-term state assemblyman from Tanjung Bungah, was selected to lead the Barisan Nasional government in Penang, and became the state's third Chief Minister.
Koh served four terms as Chief Minister for a total of 18 years from 1990 to 2008. In the 1995 general election, he was challenged in his state seat by Lim Kit Siang, who unseated the previous Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu in 1990. Koh beat Lim with over 70% of the votes.[4] He stepped down in 2008 to contest the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat during the general election. Koh was said to be pressured into leaving his position as Chief Minister to join federal politics.[5] He eventually lost the parliamentary contest, while the opposition pact led by the Democratic Action Party (DAP) won the state of Penang.
Koh remained visible in the political scene after the election, and even participated in a televised public debate with his successor as Chief Minister, Lim Guan Eng.[6] He remained as Gerakan president, winning the post permanently in October 2008.
Koh returned to public office in April 2009, when he was appointed as a Senator in the Dewan Negara. This paved the way for prime minister Najib Razak to name Koh in his inaugural Cabinet.[7] He was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, in charge of unity and performance management. Koh was put in charge of Najib's Government Transformation Programme (GTP), which includes monitoring the performance of ministries and six national key result areas (NKRAs) through Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).[8][9]
In August 2011, The Malaysian Insider reported that the Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership felt that Koh should step down as BN Chairman in Penang for the coalition to win back the state government in the 13th general elections. It was further said that voters viewed Koh as indecisive and a symbol of the BN leadership which was rejected by voters in 2008.[10] Gerakan leaders reportedly encouraged Koh to leave Penang to contest the Simpang Renggam parliamentary seat, a Gerakan safe seat in Johor.[11]
On 16 May 2013, The Star reported that Koh officially resigned as the President of Gerakan. His deputy, Chang Ko Youn, would take over as acting president until the party elections on 26 October 2013.[12] Koh's resignation followed Gerakan Secretary-General Teng Chang Yeow's earlier resignation as Penang Barisan Nasional chairman and Gerakan Secretary-General.[13]
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | N19 Tanjong Bunga | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 7,585 | 52.40% | Gooi Hock Seng (DAP) | 6,573 | 45.41% | 14,474 | 1,012 | 74.75% | ||
| 1995 | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 13,087 | 69.46% | Lim Kit Siang (DAP) | 5,384 | 28.57% | 18,842 | 7,703 | 77.79% | |||
| 1999 | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 12,111 | 67.52% | Wong Hang Yoke (DAP) | 5,250 | 29.27% | 17,937 | 6,861 | 73,20% | |||
| 2004 | N22 Tanjong Bunga | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 8,985 | 73.01% | Lim Cheng Hoe (DAP) | 2,761 | 22.44% | 12,306 | 6.224 | 73.33% | ||
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | P042 Tanjong, Penang | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 22,394 | 50.42% | Chian Heng Kai @ Chin Soo Ha (DAP) | 21,560 | 48.54% | 45,317 | 834 | 77.16% | ||
| Yeap Ghim Guan (SDP) |
464 | 1.04% | ||||||||||
| 1986 | P045 Tanjong, Penang | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 15,921 | 36.57% | Lim Kit Siang (DAP) | 27,611 | 63.43% | 44,463 | 11,690 | 73.32% | ||
| 2008 | P046 Batu Kawan, Penang | Koh Tsu Koon (Gerakan) | 13,582 | 37.06% | Ramasamy Palanisamy (DAP) | 23,067 | 62.94% | 37,292 | 9,485 | 78.71% | ||
Malaysia :
Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) – Tan Sri (1995)[15]