Tiong King Sing is a Malaysian politician. He is currently the Member of Parliament of Malaysia for the Bintulu constituency in Sarawak. Tiong was previously appointed by former Prime Minister of the federal ruling National Front coalition, Najib Razak, as Malaysia's Special Envoy to East Asia covering Japan, South Korea and Taiwan in 2014; until the appointment was terminated by the new Pakatan Harapan government in 2018. He is appointed as Special Envoy of Malaysia the second time; but to the People's Republic of China by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin of the Perikatan Nasional coalition in April 2020. Tiong is the president of the Progressive Democratic Party. In accordance with its expansion to West Malaysia in 2017, the party was rebranded with its new name and logo from Sarawak Progressive Democratic Party ; previously a ruling component party of Barisan Nasional coalition. Following the fall of BN in the 2018 general election and in the aftermath of meeting between all Sarawak-based BN coalition parties on 12 June 2018, PDP leave the coalition to formed a new Sarawak-based coalition of Sarawak Parties Alliance. Tiong was originally a member of the Sarawak National Party but was dismissed in 2002 for what the party cited as disciplinary reasons. He subsequently joined the SPDP. In 2007 he became involved in a dispute with police administration alleging that criminal gangs were acting with impunity throughout Sarawak but that his concerns were not being addressed by police. His outspokenness was reported to have triggered a large police operation against criminal organisations in the State. Tiong subsequently received mail threats, including a parcel of shotgun cartridges, at his constituency office. At the 2008 general election, he successfully defended his seat receiving 73% of the vote. Tiong was re-elected to Parliament again in 2013 general election, and the following year became the President of the SPDP, replacing William Mawan Ikom, who had resigned from the party. In 2018 general election, Tiong retained his seat in Bintulu with a majority of 7,022.
Kong-Kali-Kong pet phrase
Tiong King Sing introduced a pet phrase into Parliament when he described Opposition lawmakers as "Kong-Kali-Kong" MPs. Tiong made the remark after several opposition MPs lashed out at Barisan Nasional lawmakers, in particular Azalina Othman Said for tabling a motion to suspend Lim Kit Siang. Among the opposition lawmakers who voiced their disagreement with the tabling of the motion were Gobind Singh Deo, Ramkarpal Singh, Khalid Samad and Tony Pua. In an attempt to silence them, Tiong used the term "Kong-Kali-Kong" on them, which he explained as "empty vessels" or "people with no insight on any matter whatsoever." This remark was followed by roars of laughter from other MPs who practically drowned out Gobind, who asked sarcastically, "What does that mean? Is that Bahasa Malaysia?" The pandemonium was triggered when Lim was suspended from Parliament for six months for refusing to apologise or retract his allegation that Pandikar Amin Mulia had abused his position as Dewan Rakyat Speaker on the Public Accounts Committee's investigations on 1Malaysia Development Bhd when he ordered that it be temporarily suspended. Speaking up in defence of Pandikar, Tiong said the Speaker had to be firm in allowing the motion to be tabled by Azalina for voting. "Remember, we have to respect the Speaker," Tiong said, adding that he believed opposition MPs would never admit their faults and would instead continue to block the issue from being debated.
