My dear Subang Constituents,
In my SJ Echo article last month, I spoke about my oath and duty as a Member of Parliament. This was the oath that I took back in 2013; “I, Wong Chen, having been elected as a Member of the House of Representatives, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully discharge my duties as a Member to the best of my ability, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to Malaysia, and that I will preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.”
In discharging my duties, I am proud to say that I have faithfully discharged them to my best ability. My Parliamentary attendance record over close to 14 years is impeccable, at 97%; I have never missed a day of sitting except when I am physically overseas on official Parliamentary duties. I actually enjoy being in Parlimen Malaysia and am always enthusiastic in attending the sittings, where I conduct committee and diplomatic meetings.
I have given many Parliamentary speeches; the collation of these speeches, I have assigned my interns to document and search in the Parlimen Malaysia Hansards, archives and videos. I would estimate that I averaged at least 10 speeches a year, which means minus the two years of Covid when Parliament was suspended, I should have delivered around 120 policy and legislative speeches to date.
I have served in multiple Parliamentary committees. I served in the Public Accounts Committee in my very first term, the highlight being scrutinising with accounts of the 1MDB scandal. I was also Deputy Chairman of the Special Select Committee on Finance and the Economy. In my second and now third term, I am the Chairman of the Special Select Committee on International Relations and International Trade. We monitor three ministries, namely MoFA, MITI and the Ministry of Economy.
In addition to these, I have served in several APPGM, including Chairman the Political Finance group. I have represented Parlimen Malaysia and AIPA in many global events, visiting many Parliaments and travelling extensively. I have also been elected and represented Malaysia in the Inter-Parliamentary Union, going to the United Nations and IPU conferences. In terms of my Parliamentary work, it has been a great honour to have served all of you as your representative of Subang.
As for my allegiance to Malaysia and defending the Constitution, I have practiced and strived to uphold the highest principles of integrity and loyalty to the nation and the Federal Constitution. The greatest threat to our nation is corruption and abuse of power.
Of late and for almost a year now, I have been clashing publicly with my own government on multiple issues including corruption, allegations against Azam Baki, the Corporate Mafia, and the unfair treatment of foreign workers. I have also objected and fought against legislative policies such as the attacks on our foundling and citizenship laws, the pro-developer Urban Renewal Act, the AG-PP constitutional amendments, the FOI legislations; just to name a few.
On international trade matters, I had publicly criticised the signing of the lop-sided Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) which I consider a threat to our sovereignty. I have publicly taken opposing stance on several international issues regarding the Junta in Myanmar, the refoulement of critics and the plight of refugees. In short, for the last 16 months or so, I have been a vocal opposition while remaining in the Madani Government. In response, the Madani Government has blocked my access to community funds and in the recent Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, I was not asked to campaign for Pakatan Harapan.
I see no change, resolution or improvement in this state of affairs. If anything, things have further deteriorated. As such, my next steps will unfold in the next few days. I have sincerely discharged my duties as your MP and now let me find another path to serve you and more importantly to fight corruption and abuse of power, and ultimately to preserve, protect and defend Malaysia and the Federal Constitution.
