Senator Lee Sing Chooi, the Selangor MCA secretary and party central committee member, passed away late last night.

He died at 11pm at the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre in Kuala Lumpur after suffering a heart attack.

lee sing chooi According to his younger brother, Kim See, who is PKR Kajang state assemblyperson, Sing Chooi suffered chest pains while exercising at home.

Sing Chooi, who was serving his second three-year term as senator, leaves behind a widow and three children - two boys and a girl.

His funeral service will be held on Friday at the Full Gospel Assembly Church in Jalan Kuchai Lama, Kuala Lumpur.

This morning, the Dewan Negara observed a minute's silence in Sing Chooi's memory.

A trained engineer, Sing Chooi had been a member of MCA for 28 years and served for many years in the party's education bureau.

The senator began his political career as a MCA Youth leader. In addition to being a member of the Youth central committee, he was Youth education bureau chief for 11 years - from 1988 to 1999.

In 2005, he was tapped by then MCA president Ong Ka Ting to head the party's national education bureau after winning a seat in the central committee.

However, when Ong Tee Keat became party leader two months ago, he replaced Sing Chooi with Youth chief Wee Ka Siong.

Will Chua be picked to fill vacant post?

Ong subsequently appointed Sing Chooi as parliamentary affairs bureau chief, despite the fact that he had never contested any state or parliamentary elections.

Sing Chooi was widely seen as the newly-minted president’s right-hand man. He served as Selangor MCA secretary when Ong was state chairman.

It was expected that he would have been re-appointed by new state chief Wong Foon Meng.

Sing Chooi’s senatorship was to have ended on Oct 16 next year.

The vacancy in the senator's post is expected to exert additional pressure on Tee Keat, given that his estranged deputy Dr Chua Soi Lek has made it known that he wants to be appointed a cabinet minister.

To qualify for the cabinet post, Chua, who is not a parliamentarian, will first need to be named senator.

Now that there is an opening, Tee Keat will be hard-pressed not to give the post to Chua.