The son of a fishmonger, Ong was an active grassroots MCA member even while at varsity. Educated at Confucian High School in Kuala Lumpur, Ong went on to the prestigious Methodist Boys' School for Form Six studies. Six years after graduating as a mechanical engineer, and while enjoying a lucrative post at an engineering firm, he quit to become political secretary to the then Housing and Local Government MinisterTan Sri Dato' Sri Lee Kim Sai in 1986. Ong is married to Puan Sri Datin Sri Chooi Yoke Chun and has three daughters. Despite being Chinese educated, Ong is fully trilingual in Mandarin, English and Malay. Ong won several literary awards for his works was once a columnist for Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh. His articles ran from 1979 to 1986.
Political career
After becoming a full-time politician 1989, he contested the Ampang Jaya parliamentary seat in the 28 January 1989 by-election, upon the resignation of incumbent, Lim Ann Koon. He faced a tough challenge in his maiden effort to be a member of parliament when he was pitted against former Selangor Menteri BesarDatuk Harun Idris who was standing on a Parti Melayu Semangat 46 ticket. Ong beat the former Umno strongman by 4,500 votes. He went on to hold the seat for four terms before contesting and winning the newly created Pandan parliamentary seat in the 2004 general election. He successfully defended the seat in the 2008 general election. When Ong was MCA Youth chief, he criticised the party top brass for the decision in 2002 to acquire Nanyang Press Holdings Bhd. A few years later, he was censured by the Cabinet for speaking out at the shoddy renovation work at a Chinese school in Muar, Johor. Ong was appointed to the federal Cabinet after the 2008 election, as the Minister for Transport. He had previously been Deputy Youth and Sports Minister and Deputy Higher Education Minister.
MCA presidency
In October 2008, Ong was elected MCA president, while Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek was elected deputy president. This set forth a tumultuous partnership, and eventually Dr Chua was expelled from the party by the Disciplinary Committee for his involvement in a sex scandal. An extraordinary general meeting of the MCA was held on 10 October 2009 in which a vote of no confidence was passed against Ong and his deputy, Chua Soi Lek. Ong Tee Keat refuses to resign. Instead, he and Chua have agreed to bury the hatchet to unite and strengthen the party without any conditions under a "greater unity" plan. He said Liow Tiong Lai still as legitimate deputy president of MCA as it is elected by the Central Committee. Liow was later removed from the deputy president's post by the Registrar of Societies which declared that the post was never vacant to begin with. Some Central Committees who were previously supporting Ong, led by Liow Tiong Lai, turned against Ong and attempted to demand for a re-election for the Central Committee. They were supported by MCA Youth Chief, Wee Ka Siong, and also the MCA Women Chief, Chew Mei Fun. Finally, these Central Committees, and also a few other CCs led by Chua Soi Lek, together resigned and forced a re-election, as they have achieved at least 2/3 majority of the CC, as per the party constitution.
Loss of MCA presidency and Cabinet post
Ong Tee Keat contested in the re-election in early March 2010 to defend his Presidency, against his former Deputy, Chua Soi Lek, and also his predecessor, Ong Ka Ting, who came back in popular demand. He did not appoint any partner to contest for the Deputy Presidency, unlike Chua who appointed Kong Cho Ha and Ong Ka Ting who appointed Liow Tiong Lai. Ong Tee Keat and Ong Ka Ting were both defeated by Chua Soi Lek. Later in 2010, and as a consequence, Ong Tee Keat was dropped from the federal Cabinet.
Exit from Parliament
The Barisan Nasional coalition left Ong out of its list of candidates for the 2013 election. He considered recontesting his Pandan seat as an independent, but ultimately decided against it. Barisan Nasional lost the seat to the Rafizi Ramli of the People's Justice Party.
Resignation from MCA
On 2 March 2017, it was revealed that Ong had resigned from MCA with effect from 2 January 2017, citing the reason that he wanted to remain as an ordinary citizen.
