Nga Kor Ming


David Nga Kor Ming, is a Malaysian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for the seat of Teluk Intan, Perak State Legislative Assemblyman for Aulong. He was the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat from July 2018 to his resignation in July 2020 for almost 2 years. Nga is a member of the Democratic Action Party in the Pakatan Harapan ruling coalition. He also serves as the party's Deputy Secretary-General.

Personal life

Nga Kor Ming was born in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia, His family origin was of Fuzhou origin and stayed at Ayer Tawar when they came to Malaya. Him and his family are Methodists and was christened to David by the late Rev. Koh Gie Bing. His wife is also from Ayer Tawar; they have three children.

Education and professional career

Nga Kor Ming received a Bachelor of Laws from Universiti Malaya. Before his appointment to the Perak executive council, he practised as a lawyer in Ayer Tawar and also in Ipoh, Perak.
In 2007, he was recognised as one of Ten Outstanding Young Malaysians by the International Junior Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the category of 'Politics and Government'. This award was notable as it rarely goes to opposition politicians.

Political career

Nga made his election debut and had been Perak State Assemblyman for Pantai Remis for three terms since the 1999, 2004 and 2008 General Elections. He became Member of Parliament for Taiping, Perak after defeating President of the People's Progressive Party, M. Kayveas with a majority of 11,298 votes in the 2008 General Election too on 8 March 2008. In 2008, with the formation of the Perak government by the coalition of DAP, PKR and PAS , Nga was appointed to the state executive committee, with the portfolios of Education, Local Government, Housing and Public Transport. Perak had previously been ruled continuously by the Barisan Nasional since the independence of Malaya in 1957. In the 2013 General Election, he was reelected in the Taiping parliamentary seat and won the Perak state seat of Kepayang too. In the 2018 General Election, he won the Parliament for the seat of Teluk Intan by defeating the incumbent, Mah Siew Keong of BN and the Perak state seat of Aulong concurrently.

Crisis and controversy

Racism Remarks

In 2011, Nga Kor Ming used the term "metallic black" to describe Mentri Besar Zambry Abdul Kadir, during political rallies in Kamunting. Nga Kor Ming apologised for his racist remarks for calling Zambry a "metallic black person". It was obvious that he was referring to Dr Zambry's skin colour or Indians when he uttered the phrase in various ceramah as seen in YouTube, which he subsequently denied.
The apology was accepted by DAP national chairman Karpal Singh, however, it is believed that no disciplinary action was taken although DAP was known as a multi-racial party and its leaders were not known to pass racist remarks against any community or race until the racial slur by Nga Kor Ming.

Tailorgate

In 2012, Nga Kor Ming sued blogger sekupangdua, whose true identity is Ahmad Sofian Yahya at Ipoh High Court for exemplary damages, aggravated damages and an order of injunction against further publication of defamatory words.
It has been revealed that his wife's company was previously awarded the contract to make lounge suits for the councillors of Ipoh City Council when Pakatan Rakyat was ruling Perak.
DAP Perak stresses that MBI's award of tailoring contract was done by the council's tender board by way of open tender, it is claimed that Nga did not interfere in the committee overlooking the open tender process. The subject matter is a contract for 24 lounge suit for MBI councillors at the price of RM650 each and a total price of RM14,400.00.
Nga's wife's company, which submitted a bid for RM650 per suit, predictably ended up being awarded the job sometime in 2008. The open tender involved 4 other tailor companies and Nga's wife's company Ethan and Elton was awarded the contract despite being the most expensive at RM650, the lowest bidder Goodman Tailor having tendered for RM450.
The DAP disciplinary committee cleared Nga Kor Ming of any power abuse in the awarding of a lounge suit contract to his wife's company.

School's building named after him

In 2019, the naming of a new three-storey building of SJK Sin Min, a Chinese primary school in Simpang, Perak, after Nga has raised a controversy. The 3D Chinese characters for 'Nga Kor Ming Building' affixed on the new block to honour Nga for helping to secure a RM220,000 government grant for the school, was questioned and condemned by certain quarters. Nga dismissed criticism over the polemic and pointed it was the school board's decision to pick his name and he did not make a request nor give instruction for the school to do so.

Election results