Leow Thye Yih Explained

Leow Thye Yih
Native Name Lang:zh-my
Assembly:Perak State Legislative
Constituency Am:Pokok Assam
Predecessor:Teh Kok Lim
(PHDAP)
Successor:Ong Seng Guan
(PH–DAP)
Term Start:9 May 2018
Term End:19 November 2022
Majority:12,032 (2018)
Assembly1:Perak State Legislative
Constituency Am1:Aulong
Predecessor1:Yew Tian Hoe
(PR–DAP)
Successor1:Nga Kor Ming
(PH–DAP)
Term Start1:5 May 2013
Term End1:9 May 2018
Majority1:7,330 (2013)
Birth Name:Leow Thye Yih
Citizenship:Malaysian
Party:Democratic Action Party (DAP)

Independent
Otherparty:Pakatan Rakyat (PR)

Pakatan Harapan (PH)
Occupation:Politician

Leow Thye Yih is a Malaysian politician who served as Member of the Perak State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Pokok Assam from May 2018 to November 2022 and for Aulong from May 2013 to May 2018. He is an independent and was a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalitions. He also served as the State Assistant Organising Secretary of DAP of Perak.

Education

He is a Bachelor of Optometry.[1]

Political career

Resignation from DAP party positions to support Paul Yong

On 11 September 2019, he resigned as State Assistant Organising Secretary of DAP of Perak along with Malim Nawar MLA Leong Cheok Keng who resigned as Treasurer of DAP of Perak as a sign of support for Member of the Perak State Executive Council (EXCO) and Tronoh MLA Paul Yong Choo Kiong as State Chairman of DAP of Perak Nga Kor Ming wanted to remove Yong as an EXCO member after involving in a rapping case.[2] [3]

Rumours of leaving DAP for MCA

In early January 2021, there were rumours that he and Leong were leaving DAP to join the opposing Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition but they both denied. To reaffirm his denial, he signed a statutory declaration (SD) to serve as a DAP MLA for full term.[4] [5]

Leaving DAP to contest in the 2022 general election as an independent candidate

Two days before the Nomination Day of the 2022 general election and 2022 Perak state election on 3 November 2022, he left DAP after the party decided not to nominate him as a candidate in both the general election and the state election. He also announced his candidacy to contest for the Taiping federal seat as an independent candidate and called on Taiping voters to give him a chance to do more for Taiping. He explained that he left the party out of "desperation" to bring greater development to the area and to raise the standard of living of the Taiping people. He also hoped that voters would consider voting based on the performance of candidates instead of voting based on party lines. He faced his former party comrade and caretaker Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipoh Timor Wong Kah Woh who was nominated by DAP and PH to contest for the Taiping seat in the election. He also thanked DAP for nominating him to contest for the Aulong and Pokok Assam state seats in the 2013 and 2018 Perak state elections.[6] He lost the election to Wong by a minority of 45,944 votes, garnering only 1,154 votes, which is 1.36% of the total votes and losing the deposit of RM 10,000. For the deposit to be refunded, he has to garner at least 10,597 votes, which is 12.5% of the total votes.

Election results

Year!Constituency! colspan=2
CandidateVotesPctOpponent(s)VotesPctBallots castMajorityTurnout
2013N18 AulongLeow Thye Yih (DAP)14,84365.73%Soo Kay Ping (Gerakan)7,51333.35%22,8967,33080.50%
Yew Tian Hoe (IND)2250.98%
2018N17 Pokok AssamLeow Thye Yih (DAP)16,95475.66%Lee Li Kuan (MCA)4,92221.96%22,40912,03278.38%
Year!Constituency! colspan=2
CandidateVotesPctOpponent(s)VotesPctBallots castMajorityTurnout
2022P060 Taiping, Perak (IND)1,1541.36%Wong Kah Woh (DAP)47,09855.56%84,76925,52969.73%
bgcolor= See Tean Seng (GERAKAN)21,56925.44%
Neow Choo Seong (MCA)14,59917.22%
Mohganan P Manikam (IND)2360.28%
A. Rama Moorthy @ Steven Ram (IND)1130.13%

References

  1. Web site: Leow Thye Yih . 2022-05-16 . PRU @ Sinar Harian.
  2. Web site: Perak DAP reps who quit state committee say sticking by decision . 2022-05-16 . malaysia.news.yahoo.com . 12 September 2019 . en-MY.
  3. Web site: Bunyan . John . Two Perak DAP reps quit party posts in support of exco charged with rape Malay Mail . 2022-05-16 . www.malaymail.com . 11 September 2019 . en.
  4. Web site: DAP's Perak rep denies joining MCA . 2022-05-16 . The Star . en.
  5. Web site: Perak DAP:Leong has signed SD . 2022-05-16 . The Star . en.
  6. Web site: Ex-assemblyman quits DAP, to stand in Taiping as independent. The Star. 4 November 2022. 9 November 2022.