Ooi is from a small town in the northern Malaysian state of Kedah. He was brought up among rural teenagers and is trilingual, fluent in Mandarin, English and Malay.
Blog and internet activity
Jeff Ooi used to write a blog known as "Screenshots...", which he started on 2 January 2003, covering current issues relating to Malaysia, mainly on politics. From time to time, it also touches on international news and photography.
Jeff Ooi's blog was described as "Malaysia's Most Influential Blog" by Malaysiakini, a local online news publication known for its different stance to the mainstream media. In 2005, Screenshots won in the Asia category of the Freedom Blogs Awards given by Reporters Without Borders.[3]
Ooi is also the administrator at a photography forum called Lensa Malaysia, which receives 200,000-page views per month. He is also the founder and administrator of UEP Subang Jaya and Subang Jaya's community forum usj.com.my,[4] and was hired by CNET Asia as a tech blogger alongside other CNET Asia bloggers. He named his CNET Asia blog Lemak Lemang,[5] a reference to Lemang, coconut-flavoured sticky rice stuffed in a bamboo stick traditionally prepared by Malays.
Political career (2006-present)
In 2006, it was reported by The Star, a local English language daily, that Ooi was among several local bloggers being approached by the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) to run for public office. Ooi, who was at the time a member of Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (GERAKAN), a component party of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, stated that it was "too premature at this point" for him to consider entering active politics.[6]
On 22 January 2022, he was present at a Heritage Party (WARISAN) event namely "Warisan Unity Night" and revealed his hope that his application to join WARISAN would be considered. On 24 January 2022, he was confirmed to have joined WARISAN and been appointed as the state coordinator of WARISAN of Penang[11] He claim more Penang DAP leaders set to join Warisan[12] which hope to contest all federal and state seats of Penang in the next general and state elections (GE15).[13]
Controversies and issues
Lawsuit as blogger
On 11 January 2007, Ooi, alongside Ahirudin Attan, was sued by the New Straits Times Press (NSTP).[14] The Malaysian court ordered Ooi to remove more than 10 posts on his blog that the NSTP claimed were libellous by 17 January. Ooi was prohibited from republishing the posts on his blog or anywhere else on the internet until the resolution of the defamation suit. The lawsuits were the first of their kind in Malaysia.[15] Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi defended the legal action launched against Ooi, saying the Internet was not exempt from defamation laws.[16] This lawsuit spawned the 'Bloggers United' campaign to defend bloggers and freedom of expression. Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin chose to defend themselves in court. The situation resulted in various newspapers covering Malaysian blogging. A fund was also set up to protect bloggers and support their activities.
Islamic extremist remarks
In early August 2009, Ooi had labelled Mohd Razali Abdullah, a Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) councillor, an Islamic extremist. This caused a public scandal, especially from within the Muslim community, because Razali was a member of Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), a registered organisation with close ties with Ooi's own party's youth wing, the Penang DAP Socialist Youth.[17] His comments were interpreted as claiming that Syariah Law was extreme and that Muslims are extremists. The Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng, ordered Ooi to retract his statements and apologise publicly, which Ooi eventually did after initially refusing. However, he did not offer an apology and continued criticising Razali, calling him "a political burden to the state government".[18] The Islamic religious leaders association of Penang (Persatuan Ulama' Malaysia cawangan Pulau Pinang) subsequently launched a petition to demand that Ooi resign from office for his comments about Muslims and Islam in Malaysia.[19]
Disdain slurs
In November 2013, Ooi had drawn flak by calling 'kucing kurap' (literally mangy cats) two MPPP officers accompanying him as Jelutong MP during his visit to an illegal hawker site when he was unsatisfied with them who were ill-informed.[20] Ooi had apologised for his controversial remark later after DAP chairman Karpal Singh had rebuked and called on him to publicly apologise.[21]
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