Lim Beng Hong
#WomensHistoryMonth
Lim Beng Hong (1903–1979) was a Malaysian lawyer, the first ethnic Chinese and Malayan woman called to the English Bar and the first woman admitted to the Bar in Malaya. She was also one of the two first female lawmakers of the Federal Legislative Council, the forerunner of the Malaysian Parliament.
Lim was born in Penang, British Malaya in 1903 to a wealthy merchant family. She was educated at St George’s Girls’ School in Penang. After finishing, she returned there to teach for a few years before leaving to study law in England along with her brother, Lim Khye Seng.
She was called to the bar in 1926 at the same time as her brother.
Lim returned to Penang in 1927 to be married to Oon Guan Yong. Thereafter, she was known as Mrs B H Oon. Despite being married, she continued to lead an active public life.
She applied to join the Bar of the Straits Settlements and the Federated Malay States — although women in British Malaya were prohibited from joining the Bar. The law was amended in 1927 to admit her. However, the legality of the amendment remained in dispute until 1935, when it was finally approved by the chief justice of the Kuala Lumpur Supreme Court.
After World War II, she was appointed as one of only two female members of the Federal Legislative Council, an embryonic parliament which was one of the key prerequisites for Malaysia’s eventual independence from British colonial rule. She served on the legislative council from 1948 to 1955.
Oon was also one of the co-founders of the Malayan Chinese Association (MCA). She became a councillor in Butterworth from 1954 to 1957 and initiated a Women’s Charter that was included in the Pan-Malayan Labour Party’s manifesto.
After Malaysia’s independence, she was elected as the first Malaysian President of the International Federation of Women Lawyers in 1971.
Sources:
The Inner Temple: Lim Beng Hong
4 Amazing Women in Malaysian History Who Shouldn’t Be Forgotten
