Sarawak rep Wong Ho Leng dies of cancer

Former DAP Sarawak chairman, Wong Ho Leng (pic), has lost his 18-month battle with cancer.

The 55-year-old Bukit Assek assemblyman, popularly known as Ho Leng to the people in his hometown of Sibu, died at the Rejang Medical Centre at 10.50pm last night – just a day after the state legislative assembly had reached its maturity date.

Since it is now less than two years left on the mandate of the state government, there would be no by-election for the seat.

State DAP vice-chairman David Wong, in confirming Ho Leng's death late last night, said Ho Leng's wife, Irene Chang, and their children were at his bedside when he died.

Ho Leng was diagnosed with a brain tumour when he was on holiday in Australia in 2012 but it was only on January 12, 2013, that he made public that he had been diagnosed with glioma (tumour on his brain stem), which caused the slurring of his speech and impaired swallowing function.

He then sought chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Singapore, where his treatment bill came to about RM1.4 million.

The state government helped Wong to pay RM1 million of the bill.

He flew back home and was warded at the Rejang Medical Centre earlier this year.

On May 2, he went into a coma and never regained consciousness.

Born on December 21, 1959, Ho Leng was involved in politics for nearly three decades.

He caused a stir in Sarawak politics in the 1996 state election – marking the start of the the so-called the "Rhythm of the Pendulum" where the seat changed hands between DAP and the Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) – when he defeated the SUPP president and deputy chief minister, Tan Sri Dr Wong Soon Kai, by a slim majority of 226 votes in the Bukit Assek constituency.

He was subsequently defeated by Daniel Ngieng in the 2001 state election, but wrested the seat back in the 2006 state election.

In the 2011 state election, he successfully defended his constituency against the BN-SUPP candidate, Chieng Buong Toon, and independent Hii Tiong Huat, winning with a huge majority of 8,827 votes, thus breaking the Rhythm of the Pendulum.

In his quest for a seat in the Parliament, Ho Leng made his first attempt in the 1995 election in the Sibu constituency. He lost.

He switched to the adjacent Lanang constituency in the 1999 election but lost to the seat's four-term MP, Datuk Tiong Thai King.

Ho Leng then switched back to the Sibu constituency for two further attempts in the 2004 and 2008 elections.

After four unsuccessful attempts, on May 16, 2010, Ho Leng was finally elected to Parliament when he won in the Sibu seat in a by-election and only after his political nemesis and the seat's five-term incumbent, former deputy transport minister Datuk Robert Lau Hoi Chew, died, also from cancer.

As the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Ho Leng caused quite a stir in the normally staid assembly that used to be dominated by the Barisan Nasional.

In May 2009, he was suspended from the assembly for a year over his "camouflage" remark against Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh when he referred to Soon Koh’s figures during the debate on the Supplementary Supply (2008) Bill.

Ho Leng's funeral is expected to be on Tuesday. – June 22, 2014.