 | This biographical articleis writtenlike a résumé. Pleasehelp improve it by revising it to beneutral andencyclopedic.(July 2024) |
Sim Kui Hian | |
|---|---|
沈桂贤 | |
_(cropped).jpg) Sim in 2017 | |
| Deputy Premier of Sarawak | |
| Assumed office 4 January 2022 Serving with Douglas Uggah Embas &Awang Tengah Ali Hasan | |
| Governor | Abdul Taib Mahmud (2022–2024) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (since 2024) |
| Premier | Abang Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Openg |
| Preceded by | James Jemut Masing |
| Constituency | Batu Kawah |
| Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Sarawak | |
| Assumed office 4 January 2022 | |
| Governor | Abdul Taib Mahmud (2022–2024) Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (since 2024) |
| Premier | Abang Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Openg |
| Deputy Minister (Public Health and Housing) | Penguang Manggil |
| Deputy Minister (Local Government) | Michael Tiang Ming Tee |
| Constituency | Batu Kawah |
| Minister of Local Government and Housing Sarawak | |
| In office 19 January 2017 – 18 December 2021 | |
| Governor | Abdul Taib Mahmud |
| Chief Minister | Abang Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Openg |
| Constituency | Batu Kawah |
| Minister of Local Government Sarawak | |
| In office 13 May 2016 – 11 January 2017 | |
| Governor | Abdul Taib Mahmud |
| Chief Minister | Adenan Satem |
| Constituency | Batu Kawah |
| President of the Sarawak United Peoples' Party | |
| Assumed office 9 September 2014 | |
| Deputy | Richard Riot Jaem |
| Preceded by | Peter Chin Fah Kui |
| Member of theSarawak State Legislative Assembly forBatu Kawah | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2016 | |
| Preceded by | Christina Chiew Wang See (PH–DAP) |
| Majority | 2,085 (2016) 5,393 (2021) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1965-08-18)18 August 1965 (age 59) Sarawak, Malaysia |
| Political party | Sarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP) |
| Other political affiliations | Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) (since 2018); Unity Government of Malaysia (allied: since 2022); Perikatan Nasional (PN) (allied : 2020–2022); Barisan Nasional (BN) (allied: until 2018) |
| Spouse | Enn Ong |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | Monash University |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Profession | Doctor |
Sim Kui Hian (Chinese:沈桂贤;pinyin:Shěn Guìxián; born 18 August 1965) is aMalaysianpolitician andcardiologist who is serving as theDeputy Premier ofSarawak and the territory'sMinister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Sarawak in theGabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) administration under PremierAbang Abdul Rahman Johari Abang Openg since January 2022, as well as an elected representative for the constituency of N14Batu Kawah in theSarawak State Legislative Assembly (DUN) since May 2016.
Sim is Sarawak's first deputy premier (a title formerly known as deputy chief minister) ofChinese descent in more than a decade afterGeorge Chan Hong Nam stepped down in 2011.[1][2][3] Previously, he served as theMinister of Local Government Sarawak from May 2016 to January 2017 underAdenan Satem's cabinet, andMinister of Local Government and Housing Sarawak from January 2017 to December 2021 underAbang Johari's first cabinet. He also had served asSenator in theParliament of Malaysia from April 2014 to April 2017.
Additionally, he holds a watching brief role which gives him oversight over several Malaysian federal government departments operating in the territory, namely theSarawak Health Department and theSarawak Fire and Rescue Department.
He is a member of theSarawak United Peoples' Party (SUPP), which he is the Party President since September 2014.[4][5][6] He is also one of the foundingVice-Chairmen of theGPS coalition, in which SUPP is a co-founding component party.
While acknowledging that Sarawak is part ofMalaysia, Sim is one of the most vocal and consistent proponents for more Sarawakian autonomous power and rights,[7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] based on the unique contexts of the Malaysia's formation as originally outlined in theMalaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and recommendations,[17] and the Report of theCobbold Commission.
The son of the late Sim Kheng Hong (Chinese:沈庆鸿)[18][19] who was the Deputy Chief Minister of Sarawak from 1974 to 1991, Sim was no stranger to Sarawakian politics since his childhood. He received his primary education at Chung Hua Primary School No.4 and his secondary education in St. Joseph's Secondary School,Kuching. After that, he completed hisHigher School Certificate atSt. Bede's College in Mentone, Victoria, Australia. He subsequently graduated with anMBBS fromMonash University's Alfred Medical School and completed his cardiology fellowship atMonash Medical Centre in Melbourne.
Nonetheless, his father's personal values and passion in public service had rubbed-off on his character, and a chance to serve his homeland came when Sim found out that theSarawak General Hospital (SGH) was attempting to set up a cardiology unit. He soon left his practice and returned in 1998, after spending 17 years in Australia. In 2001, the Cardiology Department of SGH was set up. The department had progressively evolved into a cardiology centre (SGH Heart Centre, which later renamedSarawak Heart Centre) with its own standalone facilities in Kota Samarahan[20][21] and a recognised training centre for cardiothoracic surgeons.[22] He started public service with the Ministry of Health Malaysia in 1998 at Grade U2 (equivalent to current Grade U48 today). He climbed public service ranks within the Ministry of Health to Grade JUSA C by age 37, and eventually to JUSA A (age 43) between 2003 and 2009, and after transitioning the leadership at the heart centre, Sim went on to active politics. His maiden contest for public office was in the2011 Sarawak Elections which he lost. Five years later, he contested and won in the 2016 Sarawak Elections.[23] Sim has a special background pertaining to Sarawak-China relations. In 1974, then Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdul Razak and Sim's father, Sim Kheng Hong (who was with Deputy Chief of Mission Tun Jugah representing Sarawak in the delegation), were among the people who helped establish the foundations of Malaysia-China bilateral relationship.[24]
Sim is married toassociate professor Enn Ong since 1991[25] and they have two sons.
Sim currently still holds a medical practising license and specialist license, and still makes frequent visits to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH)'s Sarawak Heart Centre as a visiting senior consultant cardiologist. Having spent over 10 years as the inaugural head at the SGH Department of Cardiology (the third public cardiac centre by the Ministry of Health Malaysia) and subsequently as the inaugural head of its Clinical Research Centre (CRC), Sim is today the advisor at SGH CRC and advisor at the National Heart Association of Malaysia. He is also a board member of Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM), as well as anadjunct professor at the Faculty of Medicine & Health Science,Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
He is also a member in the Expert Writing Panel for Clinical Practise Guidelines on management in cardiovascular disease in Malaysia; a task force member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) on radiation protection in cardiology; and a member ofInternational Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s Expert Panel on Radiological Protection of Patients.[26]
He is still active in professional conferences and research. Between 1996 and 2015, he participated as either a faculty member or speaker for more than 200 professional meetings in the US, Europe and Asian-Pacific; made over 200 scientific abstract presentations; over 50 scientific publications (includingNEJM); and over 125 clinical trials as aprincipal investigator.[citation needed] He received Clinical Research Malaysia (CRM) Leadership Award in 2024.[27]
Other professional positions he holds include: the immediate past president, Asian Pacific Society of Cardiology (APSC); international governor steering committee (Asia Pacific region) of the American College of Cardiology; board member of World Heart Federation; executive committee member of the Asian Society of Cardiac Imaging (ASCI); council member and past president of the National Heart Association of Malaysia (NHAM); and the past secretary general of the Asian Pacific Society of Interventional Cardiology (APSIC). His research interests include cardiac CT, cardiac MRI, metabolic syndrome and ACS biomarkers in the multi-ethnic Asian community. He is a principal investigator/steering committee member in more than 100 multicentre clinical studies in Malaysia.[28][29]
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | N10Pending | Sim Kui Hian (SUPP) | 6,780 | 32.05% | Violet Yong Wui Wui (DAP) | 14,375 | 67.95% | 21,310 | 7,595 | 72.27% | ||
| 2016 | N14Batu Kawah | Sim Kui Hian (SUPP) | 6,414 | 54.12% | Christina Chiew Wang See (DAP) | 4,329 | 36.53% | 12,042 | 2,085 | 70.87% | ||
| Liu Thian Leong (IND) | 1,109 | 9.35% | ||||||||||
| 2021 | Sim Kui Hian (SUPP) | 7,827 | 70.20% | Kelvin Yii Lee Wuen (DAP) | 2,434 | 21.83% | 11,150 | 5,393 | 57.28% | |||
| Chai Keuh Khun (PBK) | 756 | 6.78% | ||||||||||
| Fong Pau Teck (ASPIRASI) | 133 | 1.19% | ||||||||||
| Year | Constituency | Candidate | Votes | Pct | Opponent(s) | Votes | Pct | Ballots cast | Majority | Turnout | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | P196Stampin,Sarawak | Sim Kui Hian (SUPP) | 18,839 | 36.30% | Chong Chieng Jen (DAP) | 33,060 | 63.70% | 52,550 | 14,221 | 79.33% | ||
Malaysia :
Commander of theOrder of Meritorious Service (PJN) –Datuk (2014)[32][33]
Sarawak :
Knight Commander of theOrder of the Star of Sarawak (PNBS) –Dato Sri (2019)[34]_-_2._Knight_Commander_(DA).svg)
Knight Commander of theOrder of the Star of Hornbill Sarawak (DA) –Datuk Amar (2023)[35]{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)