This week Conservative Councillor for Oadby and Wigston Borough Council, Dr Teck Khong, quietly deactivated his twitter account in the wake of an article exposing his racial hatred of Muslims. This is the same Dr Khong who, on his web site, observes:
“Empathetic understanding of people is an integral part of Teck’s caring for everyone regardless of socio-economic, racial and religious backgrounds.”
In addition to being the Tories’ failed parliamentary candidate for Bradford North (in 2005), Dr Khong was, until just last year, also a board Member of the Governing Body of NHS Leicester City Clinical Commissioning Group (a position he was first appointed to in 2011). Prior to this, he founded the Leicestershire Health Consortium – one of the largest GP commissioning groups in the East Midlands.
With a long track record of working closely with the police, last year Dr Khong also appeared on the Tories’ shortlist for the current Leicestershire Police and Crime Commissioner elections (September 29, 2015, Leicester Mercury). But despite his love of law and order, Dr Khong’s is fully committed to Islamophobia.
In September 2008 he felt moved to leave positive comments under a bile-filled article titled “How modern Islam has made UK citizens homeless in their own homes.” This article warned that Britain was on the way into turning into “some sort of semi-Islamic republic”; and the bigoted author made clear that: “Unlike other valuable and rich cultures and religions that integrate successfully, modern Islam seems steadfast in its principles of war and violence.” Sympathising with the general thrust of the article Dr Zhong commented:
“What saddens me and many with similar historical backgrounds is the lack of allegiance to the adopted home with newcomers who have been attracted to these shores in the first instance. Even worse is to contemplate the destruction of the very host that offers a haven of hope. ‘When in Rome…’ seems to have slipped into oblivion.”
Tragically, a divisive dedication to racism is something that is all too common to Tory councillors and MPs. Dr Khong’s fellow Conservative ward councillor, Bob Fahey, made the headlines last year during his election acceptance speech:
“He [Coun Fahey] expressed his happiness at winning as a team of three and then said he was the old type of Conservative – ‘the whitey’. Then he pointed at Coun Thakor, saying, ‘and this is the Indian’, and then, ‘this is the Chink,’ pointing to Coun Khong.” (Outrage as councillor uses ‘racist’ language,” May 12, Leicester Mercury)
Finally, as you might have guessed Dr Khong is just as slippery on his tolerance for the existence of the NHS as he is of Muslims, and in 2011 he explained that the government “must not flinch from setting out an explicit list of services to be excluded from state provision” (Daily Mirror article: “GP on Tory health board urges ‘rationing’ of NHS”).
This is the same man who just a few years earlier (that is, prior to the Tories coming to power) was felt compelled to criticize New Labour’s dire track record on the NHS, noting that “privatisation heightens health and social inequalities with the inescapable conclusion of greater costs and overall inferior quality of care”.
Note: Dr Khong workers at a GP practice at 61 Pasley Road, Eyres Monsell. The two other doctors working at “Dr T Khong & Partners” are Dr Kamal Hoque and Dr Ishtiaq Sheikh who both also work at the Community Health Centre (Dr Osama & Partners) on Melbourne Road. Also of interest Dr Khong is a scientific advisor to a group called “Scientists for Britain” (twitter: @ScienceBritain) – “a group of UK scientists and individuals who are concerned that pro-EU campaigners are misusing science for political gain.”
Thoughts of a Leicester Socialist 