Ong Soh Khim
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Associate Professor Ong Soh Khim (Chinese: 王素琴; pinyin: Wáng Sùqín) was a Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) in Singapore from January 2005 to April 2006. She was appointed by Singapore’s President S R Nathan in December 2004.
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[edit] Background
Born and raised in a working class family in Singapore, Ong studied at Beatty Primary School, Ang Mo Kio Primary School and Ang Mo Kio Secondary School, and did her A levels at National Junior College.
After enrolling at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1988, Ong received her B.Eng. (Honours in Mechanical Engineering) in 1992. She later got her Ph.D. from NUS in 1996. She is currently an associate professor at NUS’ Department of Mechanical Engineering. She is also a member of the NUS Senate Delegacy.
She is teaching and researching in the area of manufacturing processes and technologies in the department’s Manufacturing Division. She specializes in virtual manufacturing, augmented reality application in manufacturing and design.
She has served as an invited reviewer of technical papers for 17 international journals and 14 international conferences, and has served as a member of 14 international conferences’ organizing/scientific committees. She is the assistant editor of World Scientific Book Series on "Manufacturing Systems and Technology".
[edit] Nominated Member of Parliament
Ong was appointed as a Nominated Member of Parliament (10th Parliament, Second Session) by the president of Singapore in December 2004. She has participated actively and has been vocal in issues such as corporatisation of public universities in Singapore, fee hikes in university education, casino debate, among others.
[edit] Bad Language in House
In March 2005, she made front page news on local Straits Times newspaper for uttering “un-parliamentary” words during the session. She reportedly uttered the word ‘shit’ once and ‘rubbish’ several times at a close of a debate on the budget of Ministry of Education. This matter was brought into the notice of the Speaker by other members of the parliament. The Speaker called her behaviour “unparlimentary” amounting to dishonourable conduct. She later apologised to the House saying that she was new to Parliament and unaware of unsuitable language in the House.
[edit] Other roles
She is a Resource Panel Member of the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Resource Panel for advising Women’s Workgroups on Women and Leadership, Work, Life Skills and Socio-Community Development, and a member of the Assistive Technology Workgroup, Society for Physically Disabled.
[edit] Awards
In November 2003, she was awarded the 2004 M. Eugene Merchant Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME). The award recognises individuals 35 years or younger who display outstanding leadership and achievements in the field of manufacturing engineering. She is honoured to be the first female from an ASEAN country to receive this award since its inception in 1979.
She is also a recipient of the 2004 Singapore Youth Award for the Science & Technology Category.
In 2005, she was elected a Corresponding Member of CIRP, The International Academy for Production Engineering, one of the most exclusive associations for manufacturing researchers in the world, she is the first female person in the Asia Pacific region to be elected.
In 2006, she received the Honoree Award for The Outstanding Young Person of Singapore award.
