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Larry Sng

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In this Chinese name, the family name is Sng (孙).
Yang Berhormat Datuk
Larry Sng
DPSM MP
孙伟瑄
Sng in 2022
1st President of the Parti Bangsa Malaysia
Incumbent
Assumed office
8 January 2022
DeputyHaniza Mohamed Talha (2022)
Wong Judat
(since 2022)
Steven Choong Shiau Yoon
(since 2023)
Preceded byPosition established
State Chairman of the People's Justice Party of Sarawak
In office
13 March 2020 – 27 February 2021
PresidentAnwar Ibrahim
Preceded byBaru Bian
Succeeded byAbang Zulkifli Abang Engkeh
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Julau
Incumbent
Assumed office
9 May 2018
Preceded byJoseph Salang Gandum
(BN–PRS)
Majority1,931 (2018)
1,340 (2022)
Ministerial roles (Sarawak)
2004–2011Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office
2004–2011Assistant Minister of Industrial Development
2009–2011Assistant Minister of Youth
Faction represented in Dewan Rakyat
2018–2021Pakatan Harapan
2021Independent
2021–Parti Bangsa Malaysia
Faction represented in Sarawak State Legislative Assembly
2001–2011Barisan Nasional
Personal details
Born
Larry Sng Wei Shien

(1979-09-14) 14 September 1979 (age 45)
Taipei, Taiwan
CitizenshipMalaysian
NationalityMalaysian
Political partyParti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS)
(2001–2004)
Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS)
(2004–2007)
Independent
(2007–2012), (2017–2019), (2021)
Sarawak Workers Party (SWP)
(2012–2017)
People's Justice Party (PKR)
(2019–2021)
Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM)
(since 2021)
Other political
affiliations		Barisan Nasional (BN)
(2007–2012, aligned:since 2021)
Pakatan Harapan (PH)
(2018–2021, aligned:since 2022)
Perikatan Nasional (PN)
(aligned:2021–2022)
Spouse
May Ting
​
(m. 2006)​
RelationsSng Chin Joo (grandfather, deceased)
Ting Pek Khiing (father-in-law, deceased)
Parent(s)Sng Chee Hua (father)
Susan Sng (mother)
Residence(s)Jalan Airport, Kapit, Sarawak
Alma materLondon School of Economics
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionBusinessman
Larry Sng on Facebook
Larry Sng on Parliament of Malaysia
Larry Sng
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese孫偉瑄
Simplified Chinese孙伟瑄
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinSūn Wěixuān
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingSyun1 Wai5 Syun1
Southern Min
Hokkien POJSun Úi-soan
Tâi-lôSun Uí-suan

Datuk Larry Sng Wei Shien[a] (simplified Chinese: 孙伟瑄; traditional Chinese: 孫偉瑄; pinyin: Sūn Wěixuān; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Sun Úi-soan), is a Taiwanese-born Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Julau since May 2018.[2] He served as Member of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Pelagus from September 2001 to April 2011.[1] He was previously the State Chairman of the People's Justice Party (PKR) of Sarawak, a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.[3] On 28 February 2021, he left PKR to become an independent again and declared support for the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition. He is currently the President of Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) and has served in this role since January 2022.[4] Following the 2022 general election, he is presently the sole PBM MP and his party is aligned to the Unity Government.

Early life and education

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Sng was born on 14 September 1979 in Taipei to a Sarawakian businessman-politician father Sng Chee Hua and Taiwanese-born mother Susan Sng.[5] His father is the former one-term Julau MP from 1995 to 1999, two-term Pelagus assemblyman from 1991 to 2001 and a renowned corporate player. Meanwhile, his grandfather, Sng Chin Joo was also a Member of Parliament and Council Negri (now Sarawak State Legislative Assembly) member in 1963 and the Kapitan Cina in Kapit in the mid-80s.[2][6] Their family has a good long track record with the Iban community in Sarawak, having resided in Jalan Airport, Kapit for a long time and are non-native fluent speakers of the local native Iban language despite being of ethnic unmixed full-blooded Chinese descent (since he is of paternal Hokkien and maternal Hokkien ancestry, for Datin Susan Sng was a Hoklo Taiwanese married to Dato' Sng, who was a local-born Chinese of Hokkien ancestry).[5][7]

Sng grew up in Kuala Lumpur and in England and studied at the London School of Economics.[5]

Political career

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Sng joined the Sarawak Native People's Party (PBDS) in 2001 when he was 22.[2] He first stood on the PBDS ticket in 2001 state election, replacing his father as the Pelagus representative. He had served two terms as Barisan Nasional (BN) state assemblyman of Sarawak for Pelagus from 2001 to 2011.[8] Under the Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud BN's administration in 2004, he was the Sarawak's youngest assistant minister when appointed the Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister's Office (Economic Planning) as well as Assistant Minister of Industrial Development (Planning).[6][9][7]

Sng joined the new Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) in 2004 which was founded by James Jemut Masing and his father the senior Sng in the wake of the de-registration of PBDS and succeeded it as a component of BN. In 2006 state election, he retained his Pelagus seat as a PRS candidate. He had been the PRS deputy secretary general under the presidency of Masing until a leadership tussle between them resulted in the revocation of Sng's party membership for insubordination in 2007.[6][10]

In 2009, he was given additional portfolio of Assistant Minister of Youth (Training) albeit being a 'partyless independent' pro-BN status. He was subsequently dropped from contesting and defending the Pelagus state assembly seat under BN's banner in 2011 state election.[11] Sng retained his position as the deputy chairman of Sarawak Convention Bureau (SCB) as well as Sarawak Convention Centre (now Borneo Convention Centre Kuching, BCCK) and was appointed Youth Affairs advisor to the Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's state government in 2012 amid his BN-friendly status.[7]

Sng resigned from all his government appointments in 2013 to assume the position of founding president of the just formed Sarawak Workers Party (SWP) which proclaimed to be BN-friendly too.[12] In the 2013 general election (GE13), he contested as SWP candidate in Lubok Antu parliamentary seat but lost.[6] In March 2016, while serving as the SWP party president Sng had initially planned to contest the newly created state constituency of Bukit Goram in upcoming 2016 state election,[13] but later in April he unexpectedly resigned from the party instead thus renouncing his candidacy.[14] He explained he has quits although he could have won because he felt he could not truly serve the constituents without being in BN in an emotional post on his Facebook.[15]

In the 2018 general election (GE14), Sng had contested as an Independent candidate and elected the MP for the Julau federal constituency by 10,105 of the 18,279 votes cast.[16] He defeated Joseph Salang Gandum the four-term incumbent and PRS deputy president.[17] He joined the PKR which is part of new Pakatan Harapan (PH) ruling coalition shortly after his victory in the election.[18] He was picked during the PH's rules as chairman of the Malaysian Pepper Board (MPB) under the federal Ministry of Plantation Industries and Commodities from May 2018 to April 2020.[19][20]

Following the collapse of PH in the February 2020 Malaysian political crisis also dubbed as 'Sheraton Move', Sng was then appointed as the Sarawak chief of PKR left vacant by incumbent Baru Bian who had turned to be independent and joined Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB).[3][21] He announced on 21 December he was stepping down from the post only to retract it after persuasion including by Anwar Ibrahim later.[22] Somehow in February 2021 he eventually quit PKR to revert to be an independent MP but supports the new Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his led Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.[23] Sng explained that he just wanted a stable government and continued backing UMNO's Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the new PN's Prime Minister following the resignation of Muhyiddin as the PN chairman on 16 August.[24] Sng has been appointed as the new chairman of Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC), a GLC to promote the market expansion of Malaysian palm oil and its products with effect from 1 October.[25]

Together with Steven Choong, he announced the formation of Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) on 19 November 2021.[26]

Sng was appointed as the chairman of the Malaysian Timber Industry Board on 5 May 2023.[27]

Controversies

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2018 Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) party elections

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During PKR party elections in 2018, Anwar Ibrahim who has secured the presidency uncontested, hesitated to work with his elected deputy president and preferred on having his own line-up at the national level which led to a bitter contest of two divisive camps: Team Azmin Ali against Team Rafizi Ramli whereby Anwar supported the latter in the party polls. Sarawak PKR was affected too and the division reached its peak when the pro-Team Rafizi Julau PKR division headed by Sng suddenly gained a suspiciously high number of new members from 603 to 13,000 on 26 June. PKR president's support for Julau was obvious when PKR headquarters never took action against the Julau PKR division then.[21]

2022 Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) presidency dispute

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On 26 May 2022, Zuraida Kamarudin resigned from BERSATU and applied to join PBM. Her membership was approved on 9 June and she was also appointed as the party's president-designate. The decision of the appointment was approved by the party's supreme council.[28] Sng issued a statement on 2 October that he is still the party president and he has not resigned from the position due to the incoming 15th general election.[29]

On 8 October, 2022, Zuraida's faction announced that she was the new party president after a meeting was held by the party's supreme council. However, on 26 October, Sng announced that he is the legitimate party president according to the records of the Registrar of Society.[30]

On 2 November, after a meeting between Sng and Zuraida, PBM released a statement that Sng is recognised as the rightful party president.[31]

Personal life

[edit]

Sng was 27 years old when he married May Ting (born 1977), who was two years his senior, then aged 29, on 14 October 2006. Ting is a political science and economics graduate from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and holds a master's in commerce from an Australian university.[32] She is the eldest daughter of Sarawak business magnate cum construction tycoon, the late Tan Sri Dato' Paduka Ting Pek Khiing (known for his timber business and the Bakun Dam project) and his second wife, Puan Sri Datin Paduka Chai Yu Lan.[33]

Outside politics, Sng is known for his corporate social responsibility (CSR) and community services. He runs the Larry Sng Education Fund which has given over RM1 million to less fortunate students from Pelagus and Bukit Goram areas in his hometown of Kapit to pursue higher education right after leaving school.[7][34] Sng was once touted as Sarawak's richest MP after he declared his and his wife's assets to be around RM11.78 million to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in November 2018.[35]

Election results

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Sarawak State Legislative Assembly
Year Constituency Candidate Votes Pct Opponent(s) Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
2001 N48 Pelagus Larry Sng Wei Shien (PBDS) 7,418 76.77% Ling Kok Hong (IND) 1,155 11.95% 9,786 6,263 73.00%
Jeffery Nuing Ebom (IND) 1,011 10.46%
Chua Bee Hun (IND) 40 0.41%
Lee Hun Tak (IND) 39 0.40%
2006 N54 Pelagus Larry Sng Wei Shien (PRS) 5,965 64.61% Jeffery Nuing Ebom (IND) 2,726 29.53% 9,401 3,239 67.64%
Simon Sibat (SNAP) 541 5.86%
Parliament of Malaysia
Year Constituency Candidate Votes Pct Opponent(s) Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
2013 P203 Lubok Antu Larry Sng Wei Shien (SWP) 4,187 27.92% William Nyallau Badak (PRS) 8,278 55.21% 15,166 4,091 78.57%
Nicholas Bawin Anggat (PKR) 2,530 16.87%
2018 P209 Julau Larry Sng Wei Shien (IND) 10,105 55.28% Joseph Salang Gandum (PRS) 8,174 44.72% 18,569 1,931 73.16%
2022 Larry Sng Wei Shien (PBM) 9,159 40.64% Joseph Salang Gandum (PRS) 7,819 34.69% 22,537 1,340 64.67%
Elly Lawai Ngalai (IND) 5,224 23.18%
Susan George (PBDS) 335 1.49%

Honours

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See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Sng (surname) also romanized as Soon especially in regions with Mandarin-cum-Pinyin-practicing populations.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Profile at the official portal of Parliament of Malaysia". Parliament of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Larry Sng – a political veteran at 41". The Vibes. 17 October 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  3. ^ a b Sulok Tawie (13 March 2020). "Baru Bian's rival, Larry Sng, wins race to lead Sarawak PKR". Malay Mail. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  4. ^ "Zuraida appointed as new PBM president". The Star. 8 October 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b c Philip Golingai (9 May 2006). "Winning the hearts of the Ibans". www.thestar.com.my. The Star Online. Retrieved 9 May 2006.
  6. ^ a b c d James Alexander Ritchie (22 March 2019). "Cutting the nose to spite the face". New Sarawak Tribune. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d "Larry Sng holds open house on first day of Chinese New Year". Borneo Post. 10 February 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  8. ^ Francis Paul Siah (8 November 2018). "Larry Sng – the 'young man', his father and their Julau bastion". Malaysiakini. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  9. ^ "Seven Sarawak assistant ministers sworn". The Star. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  10. ^ Rintos Mail (16 February 2011). "PRS adamant about not wanting sacked Sng back". The Star. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
  11. ^ Johnson K Saai (21 January 2016). "Masing: PRS' rejection of Sng nothing personal". Borneo Post. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  12. ^ "Larry Sng: Personal vendetta tag is wrong". Borneo Post Online. 1 September 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  13. ^ "Larry Sng launches SWP service centre". Borneo Post Online. 29 February 2016. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  14. ^ Yu Ji (20 April 2016). "Sarawak polls: SWP founder quits party". The Star. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
  15. ^ "I could have won, says Larry Sng, thanking Taib in painful goodbye". Malaysiakini. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  16. ^ "Federal Government Gazette: Results of Contested Election and Statements of the Poll after the Official Addition of Votes – Parliamentary Constituencies for the State of Sarawak" (PDF). Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia. 28 May 2018. p. 21. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  17. ^ "Sng creates an upset, beats Joseph Salang in Julau". New Straits Times. 9 May 2018. Archived from the original on 9 May 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  18. ^ Lim, Ida (22 December 2018). "Report: Larry Sng claims was wooed by Dr M, Azmin, and Rafizi to join Pakatan". Malay Mail. Archived from the original on 17 February 2019. Retrieved 17 February 2019.
  19. ^ "Larry Sng new chairman of Malaysian Pepper Board". Borneo Post Online. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2021.
  20. ^ Sulok Tawie (1 April 2020). "Julau MP says removed as Malaysian Pepper Board chairman". Malay Mail. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  21. ^ a b Philip Golingai (16 March 2021). "How PKR won, then lost Sarawak: The Star columnist". The Asian Voice. The Straits Times. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  22. ^ Zakiah Koya (28 February 2021). "Larry Sng quits as Sarawak PKR chief". The Star. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  23. ^ Zakiyah Koya (28 February 2021). "Two PKR MPs declare support for PM, Larry Sng confirms". The Star. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  24. ^ Arjun Mohanakrishnan (16 August 2021). "I want to be part of a stable govt, Sng says after PM resigns". The Vibes. Retrieved 28 February 2021.
  25. ^ "Ex-PKR MP Larry Sng appointed as new MPOC chairman". Borneo Post. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  26. ^ Friday, 19 Nov 2021 10:36 AM MYT (19 November 2021). "Ex-PKR duo Steven Choong, Larry Sng in midst of forming new party Parti Bangsa Malaysia | Malay Mail". www.malaymail.com. Retrieved 19 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  27. ^ Edward, Churchill (5 May 2023). "Larry Sng appointed Malaysian Timber Industry Board chairman". Borneo Post Online. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
  28. ^ "Zuraida appointed PBM's president-designate". The Star.
  29. ^ "Zuraida appointed PBM's president-designate". The Star.
  30. ^ Tawie, Sulok (26 October 2022). "Larry Sng insists he's still PBM president, not Zuraida Kamaruddin". Malay Mail.
  31. ^ Tan, Ben (2 November 2022). "PBM info dept says Larry Sng to sign letters for election candidates, other party matters after GE15". Malay Mail.
  32. ^ Tony Thien (14 October 2006). "When Larry met May..." Malaysiakini. Retrieved 14 October 2006.
  33. ^ "Asst minister weds tycoon's daughter". www.thestar.com.my. The Star Online. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  34. ^ "67 apply for Larry Sng Education Fund". Borneo Post Online. 24 January 2014. Archived from the original on 14 February 2020. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  35. ^ "Sarawak's richest MP: Larry Sng". Borneo Post. 24 November 2018. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
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