The late Leonard Hsing helping Chan Foong Hin, the current Kota Kinabalu MP to distribute food baskets during the first wave of Covid-19 outbreak in Sabah last year.
KOTA KINABALU: Former Tanjung Aru MP Leonard Hsing Yin Shean has passed away after battling Covid-19 infection for nearly a month. He was 69.
Hsing, who was from DAP, was admitted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on May 5 and died on June 1.
He leaves behind his wife Heliew Corneleus and daughter Sonia Hsing Shiang Nee.
Hsing, who was only 26 when he won the Tanjung Aru seat in the 1986 General Election, held it for one term until 1990.
After his term, Hsing became a contractor but continued to remain with the party and was involved in party work, especially in community service.
State and national DAP leaders yesterday paid tribute to Hsing.
DAP Sabah secretary Chan Foong Hin said Hsing was his Kota Kinabalu MP candidacy proposer in 2018.
“He contributed to our governing experience after Pakatan Harapan took power in 2018. The latest program he participated in was the food basket distribution in Kota Kinabalu last year against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Chan.
Chan disclosed that Hsing was MP for Tanjong Aru from 1986-1990. Born and raised in Kota Kinabalu, Hsing pursued his tertiary education in Architecture at University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, he added.
“He joined DAP on October 28, 1986 and was chosen as DAP’s candidate for the Tanjung Aru parliamentary seat in 1986 as soon as he graduated and returned to Sabah.
“Together with Fung Ket Wing (Sandakan), Gerard Math Lee Min (Gaya), and Samson Chin Chee Tsu (Tawau), DAP won its first ever parliamentary seats in Sabah,” Chan said.
According to him in 1990, DAP lost all four parliamentary seats when the party entered into a “friendly match” with PBS, while fighting BN/Umno.
“After his defeat, Hsing continued to be active in DAP Sabah. He also joined Lim Kit Siang to conquer Mount Kinabalu in 1993. He will be missed and always remembered,” said Chan.
Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur said he was sadden with the news of Hsing’s passing.
Kit Siang said Hsing became an MP at the age of 26, a long-standing practice of the DAP since its formation in 1966 to ensure that the youths of Malaysia fully participate in the national affairs of the country.
“My association with Sabah went back to May 13, 1969. On that morning, I flew from Subang in Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu to help in the election campaign of the Sabah Independent candidate William Lye as Sabah and Sarawak pollings were to be held a fortnight after the peninsular election.
“I was speaking at a mammoth public rally in Kota Kinabalu in the evening when I was informed that trouble had broken out in Kuala Lumpur although details were not clear,” he said,
Kit Siang said that the next morning, he was served with an eviction order from Sabah by the then Chief Minister, Tun Mustapha.
“On 8th September 1993, Hsing was with me together with other party comrades when I climbed Low’s Peak at the summit of Mount Kinabalu. Hsing was the proposer for the nomination of the current DAP MP for Kota Kinabalu, Chan Foong Hin and worked for the DAP cause to the very end.
As former DAP MP for Kampar, Ngoi Thiam Woh said: “I will always remember Hsing as a principled and humble man that put the party before his own self-interest”.
DAP Secretary-General and MP for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng said the party extends their deepest condolences to the family of Hsing.
Hsing’s passing, Guan Eng said, is a grievous loss not only to his family and the party but also to Sabah.
He described Hsing as an original Sabahan proud of the state’s unique heritage, diversity and tolerance for mixed cultures and religions as well as potential for success.
“He was a quiet and an unassuming professional who combined his work as an architect to serve the people. Even though Hsing did not win in elections after 1990 and did not contest in subsequent elections, he still supported and worked with DAP Sabah.
“He was present to help at almost every state and general election. Hsing was also an original Sabahan in his unstinting loyalty to DAP right to his final days. His wonderful wife Dorothy and daughter Sonia were always there by his side until he was admitted to hospital on May 5.
“DAP shares your loss and he will leave behind cherished memories of a model husband, father, upright citizen and party member. Covid-19 has scarred many families and lost us many of our friends. We hope that the National Immunisation Programme can be ramped up, swiftly and smoothly implemented to save more lives, and avert more suffering and sorrow to Malaysians,” Guan Eng said.