Chew Hoong Ling


Chew Hoong Ling is a Malaysian author, professional master of ceremonies, inspirational speaker and social activist and politician. She was a former TV presenter for a Malay talk show Selamat Pagi Malaysia on Malaysia's national TV channel, Radio Televisyen Malaysia. Currently she is a host for an online radio station. In 2009, she came to prominence when she donated part of her liver to a stranger.

Early life

Chew's parents divorced when she was 5 years old and was brought up in a small town called Teluk Intan, Perak. She was raised in a strict disciplinarian style and in school, semi-military trained under one of the school's uniform units, St. John Ambulance.
Her early education was in Convent schools. She graduated with an honours degree in Information Systems from the Thames Valley University, UK.

Organ donation

After reading an article in a book called Life's Great Gifts about an eleven-year-old girl who pledged her organs, she was inspired to sign an organ donation pledge at the age of 13. Since then, she promoted organ donation and later in 2009, donated 60% of her liver to a Malaysian teenage girl, Lee An Qi, at Gleneagles Hospital, Singapore.
She wrote a book about the experience, I Don't Know You but Let Me Save You and its Chinese translation 我把肝脏给了一位陌生人.
In 2010, she was appointed the committee member of the Public Awareness Action Committee for Organ and Tissue Donation under the Ministry of Health Malaysia and in 2013, appointed one of the Organ Donation Ambassadors to promote organ donation in Malaysia which registers only about 200,000 people.

Social activism

Chew started activism in school, idolising a local social activist, Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye and always wanted to be like her idol. She was active in the St. John Ambulance of Malaysia since school days. After leaving school she was promoted to Divisional Officer and last held National Staff Officer before she resigned in 2009.
In her neighbourhood, she actively participated in and organised crime prevention programs and was the founder of the Pandan Jaya Neighbourhood Watch.
She is the founder of Voice of Women, a platform for other young women who want to contribute to society. Through the organisation she "convinced Sunlight Radio Taxi to get 100 taxi drivers to fly green ribbons and give out flyers to passengers to promote organ donation. Through the association, other women have also come forward to do other meaningful activities for various sections of the community."

Politics

In 2013, she was selected as a candidate of Barisan Nasional for Petaling Jaya Utara parliamentary seat during 2013 general election; against the incumbent Tony Pua from DAP. DAP's Tony Pua wins PJU with a 44,672 majority. He received 57,407 votes, beating BN's Chew who got 12,735 votes.

Election results

Awards