Yong Teck Lee

Infobox President
name =Yong Teck Lee


order =10th Chief Minister of Sabah
term_start =1996
term_end =1998
deputy =
predecessor =Datuk Salleh Mohd Said
successor =Tan Sri Bernard Giluk Dompok
birth_date =birth date and age|1958|10|3|df=y
birth_place =flagicon|Sabah Lahad Datu, Sabah
death_date =
death_place =
spouse =Datin Stella Kong Yin Kiun
religion =
constituency =
party =Sabah Progressive Party
languagesspoken =Bahasa Malaysia, English

Datuk Yong Teck Lee (born October 3, 1958) is a former Sabah Chief Minister. He is currently the president of the Sabah Progressive Party, one of the component parties that make up the ruling Barisan Nasional government coalition in Malaysia. He is currenly married to Datin Stella Kong Yin Kiun and they have four children.

Political History

He is a lawyer by profession and entered politics in 1985, by joining the Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS). He rose quickly to become party assistant information chief and Housing and Local Government Assistant Minister in the same year. He also served as Likas State Assemblyman before being appointed Assistant State Finance Minister and party deputy president in 1989.

He was soon made Sabah Deputy Chief Minister and MInister for Industrial Development one year later. In 1994, Yong resigned from PBS after a fallout with party president Joseph Pairin Kitingan over the selection of candidates for the general election that year.

One day after his resignation, Yong formed the Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP), together with PBS dissidents including Geoffrey Yee Lung Fook, Tham Nyip Shen, Au Kam Wah, Tan Kit Sher, Joseph Chia Swee Chung and Philip Yong Chiew Lip. In 1996, Yong became Sabah's 10th Chief Minister. He was appointed as such under the rotation system introduced by the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed. He held the post until 1998, where the post was taken over by Bernard Dompok, also under the rotation system. In 1999, Yong stood for election for the Gaya Parliamentary seat and won with a 4,117 vote majority. He garnered 156,315 votes to defeat Goh Chin Lok @ Johnny Goh of PBS and Hamzah Haji Abdullah of PAS.

However Yong was charged by the Elections Court in 2002 with commiting corrupt practices in the 1999 state elections, of which he subsequently lost his Likas state seat and Gaya parliamentary seat. It was found by the High Court in 1999 that the electoral roll for the state assembly district of Likas tainted with illegal voters. The results of that election was declared void. Following this, Yong served a five year ban for an election offence, but tried to make a comeback in the 2008 general election, but failed to wrangle the Kota Kinabalu parliamentary seat held by Parti Bersatu Sabah.

No-confidence vote against Prime Minister

On June 19, 2008, Yong Teck Lee declared that his party had lost confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. He claimed that the party's two members of Parliament (Sepanggar and Tawau) would support a motion for a vote of no confidence against the prime minister in the coming Parliament. Speculation is rife that the party will pull out of the Barisan Nasional coalition and defect to the Pakatan Rakyat alliance. [ [http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_9b0a0b5a-cb73c03a-adf5be00-70587b36 Renewed political uncertainty spooks investors ] , "The Edge Malaysia" June 18, 2008]

The Anti-Corruption Agency (ACA) is currently investigating SAPP chief Datuk Yong Teck Lee over the alleged payment of RM5mil, from the sale of shares belonging to a state-owned company to his agents in 1996 when he was Sabah chief minister. [ [http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/6/20/nation/20080620144715&sec=nation ACA probes Yong over RM5mil payment] , "TheStar" June 20, 2008]

References