Ooi Chuan Aun, better known as Jeff Ooi, is a Malaysian IT consultant, blogger, photographer and politician who served as the Member of Parliament for Jelutong for two terms from March 2008 to May 2018.
19 Facts About Jeff Ooi
2.
Jeff Ooi is a member of the Heritage Party and was a member of the Democratic Action Party, a component party of the Pakatan Harapan and formerly Pakatan Rakyat opposition coalitions and a member of the Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, then component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition.
3.
Jeff Ooi was brought up among rural teenagers and is trilingual, fluent in Mandarin, English and Malay.
4.
Jeff Ooi's blog was described as "Malaysia's Most Influential Blog" by Malaysiakini, a local online news publication known for its different stance to the mainstream media.
5.
Jeff Ooi is the administrator at a photography forum called Lensa Malaysia, which receives 200,000-page views per month.
6.
Jeff Ooi is the founder and administrator of UEP Subang Jaya and Subang Jaya's community forum usj.
7.
Jeff Ooi named his CNET Asia blog Lemak Lemang, a reference to Lemang, coconut-flavoured sticky rice stuffed in a bamboo stick traditionally prepared by Malays.
8.
In 2006, it was reported by The Star, a local English language daily, that Jeff Ooi was among several local bloggers being approached by the opposition Democratic Action Party to run for public office.
9.
Jeff Ooi, who was at the time a member of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia, a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, stated that it was "too premature at this point" for him to consider entering active politics.
10.
Jeff Ooi stood as a DAP candidate in the 2008 general election for a seat in Jelutong, Penang, which he won by 16,246 votes.
11.
Jeff Ooi retained his seat in the 2013 general election.
12.
Jeff Ooi was dropped by DAP as a candidate in the 2018 general election.
13.
Jeff Ooi was prohibited from republishing the posts on his blog or anywhere else on the internet until the resolution of the defamation suit.
14.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi defended the legal action launched against Jeff Ooi, saying the Internet was not exempt from defamation laws.
15.
In early August 2009, Jeff Ooi had labelled Mohd Razali Abdullah, a Penang Island Municipal Council councillor, an Islamic extremist.
16.
Jeff Ooi's comments were interpreted as claiming that Syariah Law was extreme and that Muslims are extremists.
17.
The Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng, ordered Jeff Ooi to retract his statements and apologise publicly, which Jeff Ooi eventually did after initially refusing.
18.
The Islamic religious leaders association of Penang subsequently launched a petition to demand that Jeff Ooi resign from office for his comments about Muslims and Islam in Malaysia.
19.
Jeff Ooi had apologised for his controversial remark later after DAP chairman Karpal Singh had rebuked and called on him to publicly apologise.