Kerk Kim Hock

Kerk Kim Hock was elected in 1986 as the state assemblyman for Durian Daun, Malacca. In 1987, he was detained for 60 days without trial under the Internal Security Act 1960 (ISA) as part of Operasi Lalang, a government sponsored crackdown that saw the arrest of many people, including activists, intellectuals and opposition politicians.[3][4][5] In 1990 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Pasir Pinji, Perak but in 1995 he lost the Ipoh Timor parliamentary seat by a slim 292 vote majority. Kerk won the Kota Melaka, Malacca parliamentary seat in 1999 later but lost it in the 2004 general election by a slim 219 vote majority again. He then officially retired from Malaysian politics on 28 March 2004.[6]

Kerk's son, Kerk Chee Yee, was elected as state assemblyman for the Ayer Keroh seat in the 2018 Malaysian general election. He served in the state executive council as Communications, Multimedia, NGO, Youth and Sports Committee chairman from 16 May 2018 until 2 March 2020 during the political crisis.

He was diagnosed with Stage 1 rectal cancer in 2002. After 5 years of battle with cancer, he was announced cancer-free on 25 May 2007.[7] But in 2015, he was diagnosed again with cancer.[8]

Kerk died at 6.10 pm on 9 August 2017 at the age of 61 at his home in Taman Kenanga Seksyen 3, Melaka Tengah District of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) from surgery complications three days after slipping into a coma.[9][10][11][12]