Ngeh: I’m not the richest MP

Others have billions, says Perak state assembly speaker

IPOH: Despite having assets amounting to RM80mil, DAP’s Beruas MP Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham claims he is not the richest Member of Parliament.

“There are many more MPs who have assets worth hundreds of millions, if not billions.

“So my assets are much less compared to billions,” he told a press conference after announcing the coming state assembly sitting at the state secretariat building here yesterday.

The Perak state assembly speaker tops the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) asset declaration list, followed by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has accumulated assets worth RM32mil.

The Perak DAP adviser pointed out that the MACC had wrongly stated on its website that his assets were worth only RM75mil, which is RM5mil less than what he had declared.

Ngeh said he had also declared an additional RM2mil in assets under his wife and children’s name.

“I have two other assets that I have not declared as yet because it has yet to be valued,” he said.

“I just came out of my legal practice which has yet to be valued,” he said.

On his accumulated wealth, Ngeh said he would like to thank God for being kind to him.

He also thanked his friends and community for their support.

Ngeh pointed out that he had been a lawyer for 32 years and his investments drew huge returns.

For the past two decades and after earning his first RM2mil, Ngeh said, he has not been working solely for money but to contribute to the community.

“I am quite detached from money, it does not dictate how I live. I live a happy life, and simplicity to me is freedom.

“I still have my RM6 haircut at the Indian barber near the law firm, but sometimes due to the lack of time I do go to a salon that costs me RM15.

“I often have roadside meals, and train my children to live simply so that they can find it easier to live life, and not be dictated by brands and image,” he added.

Ngeh said he was far from perfect but is proud of a life free from corruption.

This was a pledge he made in his youth, he said, after seeing how corruption caused sufferings to the innocent.

“My adviser in church during my youth group was a graduate teacher who failed her driving test six times because she refused to agree to pay a guaranteed pass driving package.

“I also ‘suffered’ taking her advice, because like her I, too, failed my motorcycle and driving tests and had to walk 5km while studying law in Universiti Malaya,

“Until today I have not given or received a single sen from corruption be it in my legal or political career,” he said.