Richard Ho Ung Hun

Dato' Richard Ho Ung Hun (Chinese: 何文翰; pinyin: Hé Wén Hàn; 20 January 1927 – 4 February 2008) was a Malaysian civil servant. In the course of his career, he served as a barrister, Cabinet minister, chairman of Maybank Finance, and as a director of several publicly listed companies in Malaysia.^[1]

Biography

Richard Ho Ung Hun was a Malaysian civil servant. In the course of his career, he served as a barrister, Cabinet minister, chairman of Maybank Finance, and as a director of several publicly listed companies in Malaysia.[1] Biography: Born in Sitiawan, Perak, Ho, the son of a Preacher and a god-fearing mother, began his career as a teacher. He later joined the public service under the colonial British government as a court interpreter.

Resigning as an Assistant District Officer in Malacca in his early 30s, Ho left for the United Kingdom where he pursued his law degree, being called as a barrister of the Lincoln's Inn in England at the age of 34. The same year, 1961, Ho was called to the High Court of Malaya as an advocate and solicitor.

Eight years later, in 1969, in what was considered a feat, Ho, then 42, stood as a "favourite son of Sitiawan" on the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) ticket, wresting the ruling coalition's blue ribbon Sitiawan parliamentary seat from Kam Woon Wah, the secretary-general of the then powerful Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), a senior partner of the governing National Front coalition. Ho, who was to successfully retain the Sitiawan seat renamed Lumut where Malaysia's navy is located in 1974 and 1978 for the ruling National Front coalition as he moved up the political ladder from the age of 47 as Deputy Minister of Road Transport (1974), Deputy Finance Minister (1976), Minister in the Prime Minister's Department and Minister of Labour and Manpower, was dropped in 1982 as the ruling coalition's candidate in an intra-MCA intrigue involving powerful forces who finally removed MCA president Lee San Choon, also a Cabinet Minister.

This was despite Ho, who had married at the age of 55, having steadily moved up the MCA ladder till becoming the deputy president to Lee by then. Lee, believing his ambitious aides that Ho's active traversing the country meant he was eyeing his top job, was used by them who actually eyed Lee's job.

According to his confidante and close friend of more than 40 years’ standing, newspaper editor-turned-New Zealand-trained lawyer Tan Ban Cheng of Penang, “Ho never wanted to be MCA president. He moved into his position as deputy by the force of circumstance and had always supported Lee.”

An insider noted that it was Ho's resignation as MCA deputy president that triggered the fight between the academician and incumbent Cabinet Minister Datuk Neo Yee Pan and businessman Tan Koon Swan factions.

Unable to resolve the claims of the contending ambitions, Lee resigned in 1983, sending the MCA into an almost three-year-long crisis that culminated in the eventual rise of Dr (now Tun Dato Seri) Ling Liong Sik over the ambitious Datuk Neo and architect and incumbent Cabinet Minister Datuk Mak Hon Kam both of whom fell out as the crisis widened.

In 1983, already out of the political arena, Ho was appointed concurrently as the vice-chairman of the Maybank board and chairman of its finance subsidiary.

Ho’s confidante Mr Tan described Ho as "a man of many parts, always humble, helpful and caring." Ho, said Penang-based Tan, showed his talents as a linguist, politician, public administrator and banker – “his last role as banker acquired at the age of 56 that needed a steep learning curve.” Marriage and children

Marriage and children

Ho married Datin Mary Heng when he was 55. The couple had two children, Ignatius and Cecelia. He died on 4 February 2008.

References

1. Former MCA deputy president Richard Ho dies