Lee San Choon

Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri
Lee San Choon
李三春
4th President of the Malaysian Chinese Association
In office
August 1975 – 25 March 1983
Preceded by Tun Tan Siew Sin
Succeeded by Tan Koon Swan
Constituency Kluang Utara
Segamat Selatan
Seremban
Personal details
Born 24 March 1935
Pekan, Pahang
Political party Malayan Chinese Association (MCA)
Children 1 son and 1 daughter
Residence Kuala Lumpur
Occupation MCA President
Company chairman
Religion Buddhist

Tan Sri Lee San Choon (Chinese: 李三春; pinyin: Lǐ Sānchūn) was the president of Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) from 1975 to 1983. He held various ministerial posts in the Cabinet of the Malaysian government from 1969 to 1983, such as Minister with Special Function, Labour and Manpower Minister, Works and Public Utilities Minister as well as Transport Minister.

Early life

Lee San Choon was born in 24 March 1935 in Pekan, Pahang to Lee Debin (李德斌) and Yang Zhenling (杨贞龄), immigrant parents from Tianmen, Hubei in China.[1] Lee had his early education in a Chinese-medium school, Chung Hwa School in Pekan, before being transferred to Sultan Ahmad School for a year of English education. The family moved to Johor Bahru in Johor when he was 12, and he completed his secondary education at the Johore English College.[2] After finishing school, he taught English in a primary school in Singapore, held a minor position in the government's Social Welfare Department, then worked as a clerk in a textile factory.[3]

Political career

Lee San Choon joined the Malayan Chinese Association in 1957. He was elected a Member of Parliament in the Kluang Utara parliamentary seat in the 1959 Malayan general election, and at the age of 24, he became the youngest MP in Malaya.[4] He was elected Chairman of MCA Youth in 1962. In 1968, as the MCA Youth leader, he was involved in the creation of the Koperatif Serbaguna Malaysia Bhd (KSM), a business organization based on the cooperative principle.[3]

After the May 13 Riots in 1969, he was appointed Deputy Minister with Special Functions in the Cabinet by the National Operations Council. When parliamentary democracy was restored in 1971, he was given the post of Labour Minister in the new cabinet. He was made Acting President of MCA on 8 April 1974 after the resignation of Tun Tan Siew Sin on grounds of ill-health just before the 1974 general election,[5] and was later elected President of MCA in August 1975. He held various offices in the Malaysian government, such as Labour and Manpower Minister, the Works and Public Utilities Minister, and the Transport Minister.

Under Lee's stewardship, five major MCA initiatives were launched. These were the building of Wisma MCA, the headquarter of the party; the setting up of a building fund for Tunku Abdul Rahman College to expand opportunity for tertiary education for the Chinese population; the founding of Multi-Purpose Holdings Berhad, an investment holding company; the establishment of Malaysian Chinese Cultural Society; and a drive to increase MCA membership.[4][5]

In the 1982 general election, in response to a taunt by the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) that the MCA's leadership did not dare contest seats with large urban Chinese majority, Lee accepted the challenge and contested the parliamentary seat for Seremban against the DAP Chairman Dr. Chen Man Hin who had held that seat since 1969.[6] Lee won the contest, and also led his party to a landslide victory, winning 24 out of 28 allocated parliamentary seats and 55 out of 62 state seats.[4] However, on 24 March 1983, at the height of his career, Lee unexpectedly resigned from the Cabinet for unspecified reason, and relinquished his position as President of MCA a day later.[7] In 2000, he claimed in an interview with the Chinese edition of Asiaweek that he was "stabbed in the back" by UMNO leaders in the 1982 election.[8]

Business career

After his retirement from government, Lee was appointed Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Multi-Purpose Holdings Bhd, Chairman of Malaysian French Bank Bhd and Chairman of Industrial Oxygen Incorporated Bhd. He is also Chairman of Lee & Mok Sdn Bhd, Sunrise Bhd, Magerk Sdn Bhd and Worldspan Travel (M) Sdn Bhd.[9]

References

  1. ↑ Wong Wun Bin (2012). Leo Suryadinata, ed. Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 534–536. ISBN 978-9814345217.
  2. ↑ "第4任总会长：丹斯里李三春". 马华公会 Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA).
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Edmund Terence Gomez (2012). Chinese Business in Malaysia: Accumulation, Ascendance, Accommodation. Routledge. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0415517379.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Tan Sri Lee San Choon". Malaysian Chinese Association.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Ting Hui Lee (2011). Chinese Schools in Peninsular Malaysia: The Struggle for Survival. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. pp. 127–128.
  6. ↑ Harold A. Crouch (1982). Malaysia's 1982 General Election. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 48. ISBN 978-9971902452.
  7. ↑ "San Choon Resigns". New Straits Times. March 24, 1983.
  8. ↑ Adbullah Ahmad (September 26, 2000). "Backstabbing: Et tu San Choon?". New Straits Times.
  9. ↑ "Sunrise Berhad: Annual Report 2001". Sunrise.

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