Ong Hock Thye

Who is Ong Hock Thye?

Ong Hock Thye a Malaysian judge on the Courts of Malaysia.

The Hon. Tan Sri Dato Justice Ong Hock Thye, PMN, PSM, DPMS, also known as H. T. Ong was Chief Justice of Malaysia and a Barrister-at-Law of Middle Temple. He was the son of Mr. Ong Teng Up and was born in Penang in 1908. In 1935, he married Chong Khew Yin. In 1943, he married Mary Chung Yuet See, the eldest daughter of Kapitan China Chung Thye Phin.

He was educated at the King Edward VII School and St. George's Institution in Taiping and the University of London. He was the first ethnic Chinese to be appointed a Supreme Court Judge in Malaysia. He was an advocate and solicitor and practiced in Perak from 1931 till his appointment to the Supreme Court on 1 September 1958. He was Chairman of the Royal Commission on Non-Muslim Marriage and Divorce Laws having been appointed on 4 February 1970 by the Duli Yang Maha Mulia Yang di-Pertuan Agong. The other members of his commission comprised Ms P. G. Lim, Enche M. Shankar, Mrs Rosalind Y. C. Foo and DatinJamaki Athi Nahappan. He authored "Law and Justice Through the Cases" which was published in 1973. He was a former Chairman of the Malayan Association of the Blind, Brickfields. He was Chairman of the National Relief Fund set up following the tragic 13 May incident in 1969.