Wong Tien Fatt


Wong Tien Fatt, also known as Stephen Wong, was a Malaysian politician. He won to be the Member of Parliament for Sandakan in Sabah for two terms. He was also one of the nominated member of the Sabah State Legislative Assembly and the Minister of People's Health and Wellbeing of Sabah. Wong also held the position of state chairman of the Democratic Action Party for Sabah.

Political career

2013 general election

In the 2013 election, Wong faced Liew Vui Keong of Liberal Democratic Party and subsequently won the parliamentary seat.

2018 general election

In the 2018 election, his party of DAP field him again to contest the seat to facing a new candidate Lim Ming Hoo from LDP. He won the election with a large majority.

Controversies and issues

Criticism of ESSCOM failure and request for security enhancement

In 2015, Wong criticised the Eastern Sabah Security Command for its costly formation despite kidnapping cases are recurring and expressed disappointment towards "irresponsible and arrogant attitude by the government leaders as it seems as they are trying to avoid the blame from public". A year before, Wong had proposed that he urged the government to implement the re-issuance of identity cards in Sabah since there are many migrants coming from the neighbouring southern Philippines.

Acceptance of Sabah State Award and Datukship Title

In 2018 Wong acceptance of the Sabah State Award of Panglima Gemilang Darjah Kinabalu which carry the title "Datuk" from the Yang di-Pertua Sabah Tun Juhar Mahiruddin during his 65th birthday on 6 October but was only announced two days earlier; had gone against the decision of the Central Executive Committee of DAP for party elected representatives and local councillors not to accept titles and awards during their period of active political service. Wong was somehow unapologetic to the party leadership or willing to return the award back.

Election results

Death

Wong died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia on 28 March 2019 due to a heart attack during a morning hike on the same day. His body was flown back to his hometown of Sandakan to be laid to rest.
His death had caused the 2019 Sandakan by-election on 11 May and the seat was successfully defended by his daughter Vivian Wong Shir Yee as DAP candidate by a bigger majority of 11,521 votes.

Honours

Honours of Malaysia