Hee Yit Fong caused Perak PKR government to collapse

Hee Yit Fong, the deputy state assembly speaker and a DAP assemblyperson, PKR's Behrang assemblyman Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Changkat Jering assemblyman Mohd Osman Mohd Jailu and Nasarudin Hashim of Bota who left Umno and joined PKR and defected back UMNO had caused the Perak PKR state government to collapse.


Hee Yit Foong was the first disabled woman to become the deputy speaker of a Malaysian legislative body. She carries a limp from a case of polio she contracted at the age of 4. In the 2008 General Election she won the Jelapang State seat of 26,157 voters with a 6,707 majority.

Hee has not been on good terms with DAP state leaders, in particular the Ngeh-Nga cousins - Perak DAP chief Ngeh Koo Ham and secretary Nga Kor Ming.

It is interesting to learn the political strategy used. Hee Yit Foong "disappeared" for over 12 hours, leaving DAP leaders sweating and desperately trying to locate her. She coolly emerged, only to slam DAP Secretary-general Lim Guan Eng for threatening to vacate her seat and force a by-election.


She demanded an apology from Lim Guan Eng for saying that party representative in the state who are incommunicado for more than 24 hours without reason will find their seats vacated.

She told a press conference at her house that night she is disappointed with the warning by Guan Eng, made when two PKR state assemblypersons were said to have gone ‘missing’ over the weekend.

While Guan Eng may have been making a pre-emptive strike, it has not gone down well with Hee who herself was deemed to have ‘disappeared’ briefly next day, thereby adding to speculation that she too would cross over to Barisan Nasional.

"I don’t understand how he views the state’s representatives. The statement is unfair to me. Usually problems within the party will be solved among members, not through a public statement,” said Hee.

Sultan Azlan Shah and Raja Dr Nazrin Shah's meeting with Hee Yit Foong in Istana Kinta

Hee explained that she had been in her house in Ipoh for most of yesterday, only leaving the premises from 3 to 6pm. She also said she had switched off her hand phone because she was “not feeling well”, which was also the reason why she failed to attend the meeting called by Mentri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

“I live here in Ipoh, but no one from the party came looking for me (at my house). They could have contacted my husband, but no one did. I thought everything was in order,” said Hee.

Hee said she only found out what was going on when she found reporters at her door, upon returning in the evening.

"He (Guan Eng) should have some confidence in me," Hee said at a midnight press conference at her home.

The question remains: What should be the basic quality of a good politician?