Chong Kah Kiat

Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat
章家傑
13th Chief Minister of Sabah
In office 2001–2003
Preceded by	Datuk Seri Panglima Osu Sukam
Succeeded by	Datuk Seri Musa Aman
Personal details
Born	Chong Kah Kiat 2 June 1948 Kudat, British North Borneo
Political party	Liberal Democratic Party
Religion	Buddhist

Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat (Chinese: 章家傑; pinyin: Zhāng Jiājié; born 2 June 1948) was the 13th Chief Minister of Sabah, Malaysia. He is also the former president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

History in politics

Born in Kudat, Chong was a graduate of New Zealand's Victoria University of Wellington, earning a Masters law degree (LLM first class honours) in 1975.

He contested and won the Kudat seat on a Berjaya ticket in the March 1981 state election and was appointed assistant minister to the chief minister the following year. He held the post until April 1985 when he lost the seat to Datuk Wong Phin Chung of Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS).

In March 1987, he became a member of the Berjaya Supreme Council but later left the party when it became clear that it was losing ground.

Chong and several Chinese leaders founded the LDP in 1989 and was made its pro-tem secretary general. Then in 1991, he became the party's president. He did not contest in the 1994 state election but a year later was appointed as Senator in the Dewan Negara, and subsequently included in the federal cabinet as a minister in the Prime Minister's Department. He quit the federal ministerial post in March 1999 to contest in the state polls. This time, he won back his traditional stronghold of Kudat, and was appointed state minister of Tourism Development, Environment, Science and Technology.^[1]

Chong became the 13th Chief Minister of Sabah in 2001 representing the Chinese community in a rotation system mooted by former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed in 1994.

When Datuk Seri Musa Aman took over the helm of the state government in 2003, Chong was appointed deputy chief minister as well as the person in charge of the tourism, culture and environment portfolio. It was then the rotation system was scrapped and from then onwards, the Chief Minister post was held by the United Malays National Organisation.

In April 2007, Chong resigned from the Deputy Chief Minister post under Datuk Musa Aman's cabinet, citing matters of principle.^[2][3]

References and notes

1. "A survivor of Sabah politics", Daily Express, 14 April 2007.
2. "Chong quits Cabinet", Daily Express, 14 April 2007.
3. "從政卅餘年對國家社會貢獻良多", Overseas Chinese Daily News, 17 April 2007.