He is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition.
A surgeon by profession, he received BAO cum laude from Trinity College in Dublin.
[citation needed] Ko returned to Malaysia to work as a Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon in Penang General Hospital in 2001 and worked there until 2004.
He then moved to Ipoh to work in KPJ Specialist Hospital and has been there since then.
As candidate of the DAP, he defeated Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) incumbent Lee Chee Leong.