Jeff Ooi

Ooi was dropped by DAP as a candidate in the 2018 general election.

In early August 2009, Jeff Ooi labelled Mohd Razali Abdullah, a Penang Municipal councillor, an Islamic extremist. This caused a public furore especially from within the Muslim community because while Razali was indeed a member of Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), the organisation itself was a registered body and had close ties with Ooi's own party's youth wing, the Penang DAP Socialist Youth. His comments gave the impression that Syariah Law was extreme and that Muslims are extremists. His superior at that time, the Chief Minister of Penang, Lim Guan Eng ordered Ooi to retract his statements and apologise publicly, which Ooi finally did after having denied previous calls to do so. However, he did not offer an apology and in fact continued criticising Razali, calling him "a political burden to the state government". The Islamic religious leaders association of Penang (Persatuan Ulama' Malaysia cawangan Pulau Pinang) eventually launched a signature campaign to support the demand that Jeff Ooi resign from office for his demeaning remarks about Muslims and Islam in Malaysia.

He joined DAP on 31 July 2007. Ooi contested as a DAP candidate in 2008 general election for a seat in Jelutong, Penang, which he won by a majority margin of 16,246 votes. He retained his seat in the 2013 general election.

On 11 January 2007, Ooi, alongside Ahirudin Attan, was sued by the New Straits Times Press. The Malaysian court ordered Ooi to remove more than 10 postings on his blog that the NSTP claimed were libellous by 17 January. Ooi was prohibited from republishing those postings in his blog or on the internet until the resolution of the defamation suit filed by New Straits Times Press (NSTP). The lawsuits were the first of their kind in Malaysia. Then Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi defended the legal action launched against Ooi, saying the Internet was not exempt from defamation laws. This lawsuit spawned the Bloggers United campaign to defend bloggers and freedom of expression. Jeff Ooi and Ahirudin chose to defend themselves in court. The situation resulted in various newspapers covering Malaysian blogging. A fund was also set up to protect bloggers and support their activities.

In 2006, it was reported by The Star, a local English language daily, that Ooi was among several local bloggers being wooed by the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) to run for public office. Ooi, who was at the time a member of Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Malaysian People's Movement), a major party in the then ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition government, stated that "it's too premature at this point" for him to consider entering active politics.

Jeff Ooi's blog has been dubbed "Malaysia's Most Influential Blog" by Malaysiakini, a local online news publication known for its difference in stance with the mainstream media. In 2005, Screenshots won the Asia category of the Freedom Blogs Awards given by Reporters Without Borders.

Jeff Ooi used to write a blog known as "Screenshots..." which he started on 2 January 2003. It covers current issues relating to Malaysia, mainly on politics. From time to time, it also touches on international news and photography.

Ooi Chuan Aun (simplified Chinese: 黄泉安 ; traditional Chinese: 黃泉安 ; pinyin: Huáng Quán Ān ; born 2 November 1955), better known as Jeff Ooi, is a Malaysian IT consultant by profession, an ex-blogger, photographer and politician. He was the two-term Member of Parliament for Jelutong in Penang (2008-2018).