Koh Tsu Koon
Encyclopedia
Tan Sri Dr. Koh Tsu Koon (born August 26, 1949 in Penang
; ) is a Malaysian politician
. He was the Chief Minister of Penang from 1990 to 2008 and is currently 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 Tun Razak
.
He is currently president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
(Gerakan), a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional
coalition.
in 1949 and attended Phor Tay Primary School and Chung Ling High School
. He graduated from Princeton University
in 1970 with a degree in physics, and obtained his Ph.D 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 Universiti Sains Malaysia
, Penang from 1975 and rose to become Deputy Dean of Education in 1978.
in 1982. He won a parliamentary
seat during the 1982 general election
but lost it to Lim Kit Siang in the following election
. 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.
, he took over the presidency in an acting capacity. He was formally elected president in 2008.
, 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. 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 Kit Siang with over 70% of the votes. 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. 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
. He remained as Gerakan president, winning the post permanently in October 2008.
. This paved the way for prime minister Najib Tun Razak
to named Koh in his inaugural Cabinet. 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).
reported that Najib is keen for Koh to step down as BN leader in Penang in order for the coalition to regain the state government in the next election. Gerakan leaders are reportedly encouraging Koh to leave Penang to contest the Simpang Renggam
parliamentary seat, a Gerakan safe seat in Johor
.
Penang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
; ) is a Malaysian politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
. He was the Chief Minister of Penang from 1990 to 2008 and is currently a member of the Dewan Negara
Dewan Negara
The Dewan Negara is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia. The Dewan Negara consists of 70 members, of which 26 are indirectly elected by the states, with two senators for every state in the Federation, and the other 44 being appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong .The Dewan Negara...
, the upper house of the Malaysian Parliament
Parliament of Malaysia
The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The King as the Head of State is the third component of Parliament....
. In April 2009, Koh was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister's Department
Prime Minister's Department
The Prime Minister's Department is a federal government ministry in Malaysia. It is headed by the Prime Minister of Malaysia followed by other ministers in the Prime Minister's Department. The Department consists of the Prime Minister's Office, the Deputy Prime Minister's Office and more than 50...
by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Malaysia
The Prime Minister of Malaysia is the indirectly elected head of government of Malaysia. He is officially appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the head of state, who in HM's judgment is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House of Representatives , the...
Najib Tun Razak
Najib Tun Razak
Dato' Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is the sixth, and since 2009, Prime Minister of Malaysia. He previously held the post of Deputy Prime Minister from 7 January 2004 until he succeeded Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister on 3 April 2009. Najib is President of the United...
.
He is currently president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
The Malaysian People's Movement Party is a political party in Malaysia. The party was founded on March 24, 1968, and , it is part of the ruling National Front coalition....
(Gerakan), a member of the ruling Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional
Barisan Nasional is a major political coalition in Malaysia, formed in 1973 as the successor to the Alliance . Along with its predecessor, it has been Malaysia's federal ruling political force since independence...
coalition.
Background
Koh Tsu Koon was born in PenangPenang
Penang is a state in Malaysia and the name of its constituent island, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. It is bordered by Kedah in the north and east, and Perak in the south. Penang is the second smallest Malaysian state in area after Perlis, and the...
in 1949 and attended Phor Tay Primary School and Chung Ling High School
Chung Ling High School
Chung Ling High School is a boys' secondary school in Malaysia, located in George Town, Penang.-The school:...
. He graduated from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1970 with a degree in physics, and obtained his Ph.D from the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1977 in economics and sociology of education. He was a Fulbright scholar at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
from 1980 to 1981.
Koh taught at Universiti Sains Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Universiti Sains Malaysia is a public university with its main campus in Penang, Malaysia. There are three branch campuses: one in mainland Penang , one in Kelantan on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia, and a offshore collaboration with a university in India...
, Penang from 1975 and rose to become Deputy Dean of Education in 1978.
Political career
Koh joined GerakanParti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia
The Malaysian People's Movement Party is a political party in Malaysia. The party was founded on March 24, 1968, and , it is part of the ruling National Front coalition....
in 1982. He won a parliamentary
Dewan Rakyat
The Dewan Rakyat is the lower house of the Parliament of Malaysia. All bills must usually be passed by both the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara , before they are given Royal Assent by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong...
seat during the 1982 general election
Malaysian general election, 1982
General elections were held in Malaysia on 22 April 1982. The result was a victory for Barisan Nasional, which won 132 of the 145 seats. Voter turnout was 74.4%.-Results:...
but lost it to Lim Kit Siang in the following election
Malaysian general election, 1986
General elections were held in Malaysia on 3 August 1986. The result was a victory for Barisan Nasional, which won 148 of the 177 seats. Voter turnout was 68.1%.-Results:...
. The following year, he was elected Gerakan Youth chairman. Koh was the protégé of then Penang Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu
Lim Chong Eu
Tun Dato' Seri Dr. Lim Chong Eu was a Malaysian politician who served as the second Chief Minister of Penang for a record 21 years. He was also the founding president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, a member of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional. He was termed the "Architect of Modern...
, serving as Lim's political secretary and chief aide from 1986 to 1990.
Gerakan leadership
Koh became a vice president of Gerakan in 1991 and later deputy president in 2005. On April 8, 2007, following the retirement of long-serving president Lim Keng YaikLim Keng Yaik
Tun Dr. Lim Keng Yaik is a former Malaysian politician and former Minister of Energy, Water and Communications in the Malaysian cabinet. He was the national president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia from 1980 until stepping down on April 8, 2007 to pave the way for Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon...
, he took over the presidency in an acting capacity. He was formally elected president in 2008.
Penang Chief Minister
In the 1990 general electionMalaysian general election, 1990
General elections were held in Malaysia on 21 October 1990. The result was a victory for the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, which won 127 of the 180 seats...
, Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu
Lim Chong Eu
Tun Dato' Seri Dr. Lim Chong Eu was a Malaysian politician who served as the second Chief Minister of Penang for a record 21 years. He was also the founding president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, a member of the ruling coalition Barisan Nasional. He was termed the "Architect of Modern...
lost his state seat. Koh, who was a first-term state assemblyman from Tanjung Bungah
Tanjung Bungah
Tanjung Bungah is a suburb in Penang, Malaysia. It is situated in the northern part of Penang Island. Its postal code is 11200. It is one of the many suburbs en route to Batu Ferringhi and thus a popular tourist attraction as well. Many hotels, which are more reasonably priced than those in Batu...
, 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. In the 1995 general election
Malaysian general election, 1995
General elections were held in Malaysia on 25 April 1995. The result was a victory for the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional, which won 162 of the 192 seats. Voter turnout was 68.3%.-Results:...
, he was challenged in his state seat by Lim Kit Siang, who unseated the previous Chief Minister Lim Chong Eu in 1990. Koh beat Kit Siang with over 70% of the votes. He stepped down in 2008 to contest the Batu Kawan
Batu Kawan
Batu Kawan is an island with a small town in the area of Penang, Malaysia. The island is situated off Seberang Perai, which is on the mainland. One of the ends of the future Penang Second Bridge is in Batu Kawan...
parliamentary seat during the general election
Malaysian general election, 2008
The 12th Malaysian general election was held on March 8, 2008, in accordance with Malaysian laws for national elections, which states that a general election must be held no later than five years subsequent to the previous elections; the previous general election was held in 2004...
. Koh was said to be pressured into leaving his position as Chief Minister to join federal politics. He eventually lost the parliamentary contest, while the opposition pact led by the Democratic Action Party
Democratic Action Party
The Democratic Action Party, or DAP is a secular, multi-racial, social democratic Malaysian political party.The DAP is one of the three major opposition parties in Malaysia, along with the PKR and PAS, that are seen as electable alternatives to the Barisan Nasional coalition of parties...
(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
Lim Guan Eng
Lim Guan Eng is the 4th Chief Minister of the State of Penang and Secretary-General of the Malaysian Democratic Action Party . He is the son of Lim Kit Siang, Leader of the Opposition in the Dewan Rakyat from 1973 to 1999 and 2004 to 2008....
. He remained as Gerakan president, winning the post permanently in October 2008.
Cabinet minister
Koh returned to public office in April 2009, when he was appointed as a Senator in the Dewan NegaraDewan Negara
The Dewan Negara is the upper house of the Parliament of Malaysia. The Dewan Negara consists of 70 members, of which 26 are indirectly elected by the states, with two senators for every state in the Federation, and the other 44 being appointed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong .The Dewan Negara...
. This paved the way for prime minister Najib Tun Razak
Najib Tun Razak
Dato' Sri Haji Mohd Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak is the sixth, and since 2009, Prime Minister of Malaysia. He previously held the post of Deputy Prime Minister from 7 January 2004 until he succeeded Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as Prime Minister on 3 April 2009. Najib is President of the United...
to named Koh in his inaugural Cabinet. 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).
Future
In August 2011, The Malaysian InsiderThe Malaysian Insider
The Malaysian Insider is a bilingual news site popular in Malaysia. It has been consistently ranked as one of the top 100 most popular websites in the country with a strong following in Singapore. Alexa ranked The Insider as the 57th most popular website in Malaysia in June 2009...
reported that Najib is keen for Koh to step down as BN leader in Penang in order for the coalition to regain the state government in the next election. Gerakan leaders are reportedly encouraging Koh to leave Penang to contest the Simpang Renggam
Simpang Renggam
Simpang Renggam is a town in Kluang district of Johor, Malaysia. It lies on the old main trunk road that used to take the majority of the North-South traffic going through Johor before the opening of the North-South Expressway....
parliamentary seat, a Gerakan safe seat in Johor
Johor
Johor is a Malaysian state, located in the southern portion of Peninsular Malaysia. It is one of the most developed states in Malaysia. The state capital city and royal city of Johor is Johor Bahru, formerly known as Tanjung Puteri...
.