Neo Yee Pan

Neo Yee Pan (1938 – 5 March 2020) was a Malaysian politician, former Member of Parliament representing Muar (1974–1983) former Secretary General (1975–1979) and acting President of the MCA in Malaysia (1983–1984).^[2] He served as Housing and Local Government Minister, as well as a number of other Deputy roles in government. During his brief tenure as Acting MCA President, Pan and his associates used their power to expel several leading party members who had questioned the official party membership numbers, resulting in a leadership crises that ended when one of the expelled leaders, Tan Koon Swan, was formally elected as the new president of the party.^[3][2]

Yang Berhormat[note 1] Dato' Neo Yee Pan SPMJ DPMJ
梁维泮
Minister of Housing and Local Government
In office 1979–1985
Prime Minister	Hussein Onn Mahathir Mohamad
Deputy	Ramli Omar (19?–19?) Samy Vellu (1978–1979) Zakaria Abdul Rahman (19?–19?) Abdul Jalal Abu Bakar (1981–1982) Napsiah Omar Subramaniam Sinniah (1982–1985)
Preceded by	Michael Chen Wing Sum
Succeeded by	Chan Siang Sun
Constituency	Muar
Deputy Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports
In office 1976–1977
Monarch	Yahya Petra
Prime Minister	Hussein Onn
Minister	Ali Ahmad
Preceded by	Engku Muhsein Abdul Kadir as Assistant Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports
Succeeded by	Mak Hon Kam
Constituency	Muar
Deputy Minister of Finance
In office 1977–1979
Monarch	Yahya Petra
Prime Minister	Hussein Onn
Minister	Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah
Preceded by	Richard Ho Ung Hun
Succeeded by	Mak Hon Kam
Constituency	Muar
Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Technology and Research
In office 1974–1976
Monarchs	Abdul Halim Yahya Petra
Prime Minister	Abdul Razak Hussein
Minister	Mohamed Yaacob
Deputy Minister	None
Preceded by	Portfolio established
Succeeded by	Law Hieng Ding as Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
Constituency	Muar
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Muar
In office 24 August 1974 – 3 August 1986
Preceded by	new constituency
Succeeded by	Mohamed Sam Sailan (BN–UMNO)
Majority	17,466 (1974) 12,355 (1978) 15,581 (1982)
Personal details
Born	1938 Muar, Johor, Unfederated Malay States
Died	5 March 2020(2020-03-05) (aged 81–82)

Political career

Neo was elected as a member of the MCA Central Working Committee and appointed Deputy Secretary-General on 11 August 1973. Next year, in 1974, he successfully elected for parliament in Muar, and was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Energy, Technology and Research.

Acting Presidency and Membership Crisis

On 25 March 1983, MCA President Lee San Choon announced his resignation and on May 1 formally left the office and Malay politics. Pan became the acting president. A crisis in the leadership stemmed from allegations of membership inflation within the party. Several party leaders moved for an investigation into the matter. On March 19, 1983, Pan and his deputy Mak Hon Kam dismissed several committee chairman and members, as well as party leaders at varying levels, including Vice President Tan Koon Swan.^[4] The expelled members were reinstated at an extraordinary general party meeting in May 1983. The following year, May 1984, Tan Koon Swan was elected to the MCA presidency, ending Pan's tenure.^[5]

Election results

Parliament of Malaysia

Year	Constituency	Candidate		Votes	Pct	Opponent(s)		Votes	Pct	Ballots cast	Majority	Turnout
1974	P106 Muar		Neo Yee Pan (MCA)	23,039	80.52%		Khoo Sim Geok (DAP)	5,573	19.48%	29,841	17,466	71.87%
1978			Neo Yee Pan (MCA)	23,538	63.40%		Ho Chan Mee (DAP)	11,183	30.12%	24,324	12,355	77.83%
							Ahmad Abdul Rahman (PAS)	2,405	6.48%
1982			Neo Yee Pan (MCA)	27,572	66.58%		Tan Yang Ngai (DAP)	11,991	28.95%	43,902	15,581	75.70%
							Mohamad Anang (PAS)	1,851	4.47%

Honours

• Johor
  • Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Johor (SPMJ) – Dato' (1979)^[6]
  • Knight Commander of the Order of the Crown of Johor (DPMJ) – Dato' (1977)^[7]

Notes

1. The prefix "Yang Berhormat" is used for recipients of the First and Second Classes of the Johor's Orders of Chivalry.^[1]