Ngeh Koo Ham

Dato' Ngeh Koo Ham (simplified Chinese: 倪可汉; traditional Chinese: 倪可漢; pinyin: Ní Kě Hàn; born 29 September 1961), also known as James Ngeh, is a Malaysian politician and lawyer. A native of Ayer Tawar, Perak, Malaysia, he is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) in Malaysia. Ngeh Koo Ham is on the DAP's Central Executive Committee and is head of the DAP in the state of Perak.

Ngeh's parents were rubber tappers in Ayer Tawar. He attended the Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar; Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) Shyr Tien, Ayer Tawar; and the (Methodist) Anglo-Chinese School, Setiawan. He went on to graduate from Universiti Malaya as a Bachelor of Laws.

Before his appointment as senior executive councillor of Perak during the state government was led by Pakatan Rakyat from 17 March 2008 to 12 May 2009, Ngeh practised as a lawyer with Nga Hock Cheh and Co. (no relation) in Sitiawan before starting his own law firm, Ngeh and Co, which is headquartered in Ayer Tawar, with branches in Ipoh, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.

In one of his more famous cases during his legal career, Ngeh Koo Ham represented Sitiawan businessman Yong Kon Fatt, who was sued by Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) in January 2005 for refusing to pay RM1,074 for sewerage services purportedly provided to his house at Taman Samudera in Lumut. The High Court sitting in Ipoh ruled that 'those who have made payments to IWK but had not received any sewerage services could demand refunds'.

Anti-Islam remarks

In 2012, Ngeh drew flak with remarks over "Innocence of Muslims" film which insulted Muhammad and Islam. Ngeh had allegedly tweeted: "Khairy wants Muslim protest against Sam Bacile. For Islam or for his political gains? Are Muslims wasting too much time and energy on this?"

Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham apologised after it received widespread criticisms from Muslims and had the post removed.

Perak state politics

Ngeh has been the state assemblyman for Sitiawan, Perak since the 2004 General Election. From 2004 to 2008 he was head of the Opposition in the Perak State Assembly. In 2008, with the formation of the Perak government by the coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS (later known as Pakatan Rakyat), they faced a problem of the candidate of new Chief Minister. Among the 3 parties, DAP has the most seats, but the Perak state constitution says that the Chief Minister must be a Malay Muslim. Ngeh, being the Chairman of the Perak DAP, is ethnic Chinese and a Christian. They initially agreed that Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from PAS should be the Chief Minister but in the end try persuading the Sultan, Sultan Azlan Shah, to appoint Ngeh as the non-Malay, non-Muslim Chief Minister. They listed three candidates, the other two being Mohammad Nizar and Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi from PKR. Finally the Sultan rejected Ngeh and wanted to appoint a Malay who is a professional. Thus Mohammad Nizar, being an engineer and carrying the highest position in PAS among the Perak PAS State Assemblymen, became the new Chief Minister. All of the Malay State Assemblymen in PKR have only Form 5 (Secondary school year 5) qualification. Ngeh was appointed to the state executive committee as senior state executive councillor, with the portfolios of Infrastructure and Public Amenities; Energy and Water; and Non-Muslim Affairs.

Federal politics

Ngeh became the Member of Parliament for Beruas, Perak, after defeating Datuk Chang Ko Youn of BN-Gerakan with a majority of 1,828 votes in the General Election on 8 March 2008. Ngeh Koo Ham first stood in the 1990 General Election against Lim Keng Yaik for the parliamentary seat of Beruas. Seen as a popular local candidate with strong grassroots support, he nevertheless lost to Lim, a powerful cabinet minister, by a narrow margin. This surprising result was suspected by many locals to be due to foul play, e.g. some said that numerous unrecognised people (suspected to be non-locals) were seen coming in to vote in the constituency. Later, in 2007, Ngeh Koo Ham stated more strongly this allegation of foul play, claiming the possession of evidence to this effect. Lim Keng Yaik has yet to respond to his challenge to deny this allegation. Ngeh Koo Ham has stood in every election since 1990.

In April 2008, in conjunction with the 80th birthday of HRH Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak, Ngeh Koo Ham was conferred the Darjah Dato Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP) which carries with it the title Datuk. He was the first actively serving DAP politician to be conferred (and accept) a Malaysian chivalrous title.

Ngeh comes from an old Ayer Tawar Methodist family and was christened James by the late Rev. Koh Gie Bing. As a student, he was active in the Methodist Youth Fellowship and later with the Persatuan Kristian Varsiti (PKV, part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) at Universiti Malaya where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws. He has also served on the Local Church Executive Council (LCEC) of the Ayer Tawar Chinese Methodist Church (ATCMC) and provided legal counsel to the Methodist Church in Malaysia. He is a regular communicant member of ATCMC where he often also provides translation during Sunday worship.

He married Cheok Foong Ling from Setiawan in 1992. They have three children.