Ong Tee Keat

Ong Tee Keat (; born 22 November 1956) is a Malaysian politician who served as the Minister of Transport in the Barisan Nasional (BN) administration under former Prime Ministers Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and Najib Razak from March 2008 to June 2010, Deputy Minister of Higher Education in the BN administration under former Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad and former Minister Mustapa Mohamed from February 2006 to March 2008, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports in the BN administration under former Prime Ministers Mahathir Mohamad and Abdullah Ahmad as well as former Ministers Hishammuddin Hussein and Azalina Othman Said from December 1999 to February 2006, Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat under former Speaker Mohamed Zahir Ismail from June 1990 to November 1999 and Member of Parliament (MP) for Pandan from March 2004 to May 2013 and for Ampang Jaya from January 1989 to March 2004. He is a member of the opposition Heritage Party (WARISAN) and was a member of the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of the ruling BN coalition. He also served as the 8th President of MCA from October 2008 to March 2010. Personal life The son of a fishmonger, Ong was an active grassroots MCA member even while at varsity. Educated at Confucian High School in Kuala Lumpur, Ong went on to the prestigious Methodist Boys' School for Form Six studies. Six years after graduating as a mechanical engineer, and while enjoying a lucrative post at an engineering firm, he quit to become political secretary to the then Housing and Local Government Minister Tan Sri Dato' Sri Lee Kim Sai in 1986. Ong is married to Puan Sri Datin Sri Chooi Yoke Chun and has three daughters. Despite being Chinese educated, Ong is fully trilingual in Mandarin, English and Malay. Ong won several literary awards for his works was once a columnist for Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh. His articles ran from 1979 to 1986.