Ngeh Koo Ham

Dato' Ngeh Koo Ham (, Bàng-uâ-cê: Ngà̤ Kō̤-háng; born 29 September 1961), also known as James Ngeh, is a Malaysian politician, advocate and solicitor who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Beruas since March 2008.

Ngeh first stood in the 1990 general election against Lim Keng Yaik for the parliamentary seat of Beruas.

He nevertheless lost to Lim, president of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) and a powerful Barisan Nasional (BN) cabinet minister, by a narrow margin.

He married Cheok Foong Ling from Setiawan in 1992.

They have three children.

Ngeh attended the Methodist English School, Ayer Tawar; Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan (SMJK) Shyr Tien, Ayer Tawar; and the (Methodist) Anglo-Chinese School, Setiawan.

He went on to graduate from Universiti Malaya in Bachelor of Laws.

Ngeh practised as a lawyer with Nga Hock Cheh and Co. (no relation) in Sitiawan before starting his own law firm, Ngeh and Co, which is headquartered in Ayer Tawar, with branches in Ipoh, Perak and Kuala Lumpur.

In the 1995 general election, he contested but lost in the Batu Gajah seat.

In the 1999 general election, he contested but lost in both the Ipoh Timor parliamentary seat and Pasir Pinji state seat in Perak.

In DAP, Ngeh has been the party's chairperson in Perak since 2000 until 2014, when the post changed hands to Nga Kor Ming, his cousin.

Ngeh begun to be a state assemblyman for Sitiawan, Perak for three terms continuously following his victories in the 2004, 2008 and 2013 general elections.

He also served as the head of the Opposition in the Perak State Legislative Assembly from 2004 to 2008.

In one of his more famous cases during his legal career, Ngeh Koo Ham represented Sitiawan businessman Yong Kon Fatt, who was sued by Indah Water Konsortium Sdn Bhd (IWK) in January 2005 for refusing to pay RM1,074 for sewerage services purportedly provided to his house at Taman Samudera in Lumut.

The High Court sitting in Ipoh ruled that 'those who have made payments to IWK but had not received any sewerage services could demand refunds'.

After 2008 election, with the formation of the Perak new state government by the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition of DAP, People's Justice Party (PKR) and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS); which was faced with the problem of the candidate of new Chief Minister.

Among the 3 parties, DAP has the most seats, but the Perak state constitution says that the Chief Minister must be a Malay Muslim.

Ngeh, being the Chairman of the Perak DAP, is ethnic Chinese and a Christian.

They initially agreed that Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from PAS should be the Chief Minister but in the end try persuading the Sultan, Sultan Azlan Shah, to appoint Ngeh as the non-Malay, non-Muslim Chief Minister.

They listed three candidates, the other two being Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and Mohd Radzi from PKR.

Finally the Sultan rejected Ngeh and wanted to appoint a Malay who is a professional.

All of the Malay state assemblymen in PKR have only Form 5 (Secondary school year 5) qualification.

Thus Mohammad Nizar, being an engineer and carrying the highest position in PAS among the Perak PAS state assemblymen, became the new Chief Minister.

Ngeh was appointed to the state executive committee as senior state executive councillor, with the portfolios of Infrastructure and Public Amenities; Energy and Water; and Non-Muslim Affairs during the short-lived state government was led by PR from March 2008 to May 2009, which the PR state government had collapsed due to the 2009 Perak political crisis.

In the 2008 and 2013 general elections, Ngeh also contested and won the Beruas parliamentary seat to become the Beruas MP and Sitiawan state assemblyman concurrently.

In 2012, Ngeh drew flak with remarks over the "Innocence of Muslims" film which insulted Muhammad and Islam.

He served as Speaker of the Perak State Legislative Assembly from July 2018 to May 2020, Member of the Perak State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration under former Menteri Besar Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin from March 2008 to the collapse of the PR administration in February 2009 and Member of the Assembly (MLA) for Sitiawan from March 2004 to May 2018.

He is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and formerly PR, Barisan Alternatif (BA) and Gagasan Rakyat (GR) coalitions.

He was also Deputy Secretary-General of DAP, Member of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of DAP and State Chairman of DAP of Perak.

A native of Ayer Tawar, Perak, Ngeh comes from an old Ayer Tawar Methodist family.

Ngeh's parents were rubber tappers in Ayer Tawar.

He was christened James by the late Rev. Koh Gie Bing.

As a student, he was active in the Methodist Youth Fellowship and later with the Persatuan Kristian Varsiti (PKV, part of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) at Universiti Malaya where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws.

He has also served on the Local Church Executive Council (LCEC) of the Ayer Tawar Chinese Methodist Church (ATCMC) and provided legal counsel to the Methodist Church in Malaysia.

He is a regular communicant member of ATCMC where he often also provides translation during Sunday worship.

In the 2018 general election (GE14), Ngeh contested just the parliamentary seat and did not contest his state seat which was abolished.

After GE14 which saw the Pakatan Harapan (PH) taking over the federal and Perak state governments, Ngeh was appointed the Speaker of the Perak State Legislative Assembly on 3 July 2018 despite not being an assemblyman.

He is the first speaker of Chinese descent.

Ngeh resigns as the Perak Speaker on 12 May 2020 after the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan (PH)'s state and federal governments in the 2020 political crisis.

As MP for Beruas, he called for the appointment of non Muslims experts to the committee reviewing the power of shariah courts.