Ong Pang Boon

Not to be confused with Ong Boon Pang.

Ong Pang Boon DUNU (Chinese: 王邦文; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Ông Pang-bûn; pinyin: Wáng Bāngwén; born 28 March 1929) is a Singaporean retired politician who served as Minister for Home Affairs between 1959 and 1963 and again for a short period of time in 1970, Minister for Education between 1963 and 1970, Minister for Labour between 1971 and 1981, and Minister for the Environment between 1981 and 1985.

Ong Pang Boon DUNU
王邦文
Minister for the Environment
In office 6 January 1981 – 1 January 1985
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Preceded by	Lim Kim San
Succeeded by	Ahmad Mattar
Minister for Labour
In office 5 July 1971 – 6 January 1981
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Preceded by	S. Rajaratnam
Succeeded by	Ong Teng Cheong
Minister for Education
In office 18 October 1963 – 6 September 1970
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Preceded by	Yong Nyuk Lin
Succeeded by	Lim Kim San
Minister for Home Affairs
In office 11 August 1970 – 5 September 1970
Prime Minister	Lee Kuan Yew
Preceded by	Lim Kim San (as Minister for Interior and Defence)
Succeeded by	Wong Lin Ken
In office 5 June 1959 – 16 September 1963
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Goh Keng Swee (as Minister for Interior and Defence)
Member of the Malaysian Parliament for Singapore
In office 2 November 1963[1] – 9 August 1965
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Telok Ayer
In office 30 May 1959 – 17 August 1988
Preceded by	Constituency established
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1929-03-28) 28 March 1929 (age 96) Kuala Lumpur, (then in Selangor, Federated Malay States), British Malaya (now Malaysia)
Citizenship	Singaporean
Political party	People's Action Party
Spouse	Chan Choy Siong[2]
Alma mater	National University of Singapore
Occupation	Politician

Ong Pang Boon
Chinese	王邦文
Hokkien POJ	Ông Pang-bûn
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wáng Bāngwén Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ông Pang-bûn

In this Chinese name, the family name is Ong.

Early life and education

Born in Kuala Lumpur, Ong attended the Methodist Boys' School in Kuala Lumpur before enrolling into the University of Malaya at Singapore campus (now the National University of Singapore), where he studied geography. Ong's wife Chan Choy Siong, a politician and women's rights activist, died in a car accident in 1981, leaving behind her husband and their three children.^[3]

Political career

In 1955, Ong's foray into politics began as a polling agent for Lee Kuan Yew in the 1955 legislative assembly election.

In 1956, Lee Kuan Yew wrote to Ong and offered him a job as party organising secretary for the PAP.^[4]

He stood for election in the 21 December 1957 for the fully elected City Council of Singapore as a candidate for the Tanjong Pagar ward and was successfully returned and became the first and only ever Deputy Mayor. He held the post until he resigned in April 1959 to contest the Legislative Assembly election as the PAP's candidate for Telok Ayer. This was to be the first Legislative Assembly in which all seats were elected. He won the seat, which he retained till his retirement in 1988. He was subsequently appointed as Minister for Home Affairs in the first self-government Cabinet and played a key role to eradicating yellow culture and crime in Singapore society. His cabinet appointment also made him part of the Internal Security Council which sanctioned Operation Coldstore in 1963.

From 1963 to 1970, Ong took on the highly sensitive Education ministerial portfolio at a time when Chinese language culture and education issues were highly politicized. By increasing the teaching of English in Chinese schools and vice versa, he was instrumental in laying the foundation for the bilingual policy for which Singapore is famous.

In 1970, Ong became the Labour Minister.

In 1980, he took over as the Environment Minister.

In 1984, he stepped down from the Cabinet to make way for younger leaders. However, he displayed some unhappiness at the pace and manner by which he was sidelined from the political scene. He retired from politics in 1988 when his constituency of Telok Ayer was eliminated in the 3 September 1988 general election. Lee recognised Ong's displeasure in a public letter of appreciation:

“... I agree with you. You also had misgivings (about some newcomers), as had the late Dr Toh Chin Chye, over the speed of self-renewal and the effect it was having on the morale of the old guard MPs.”^[5]

Ong is considered as one of the 'Old Guard' - the first generation of leaders of independent Singapore. He is the sole remaining living member, after Jek Yeun Thong's passing in June 2018.^[6][7]

Philanthropic work

Ong continued to serve the society through his involvement in the community. Ong, who previously served as the vice-chairman of Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan in the 2000s, is currently serving in the Board of Governors of the association.^[8][9]