Teresa Kok

Teresa Kok Suh Sim (Chinese: 郭素沁; pinyin: Guō Sùqìn; Jyutping: Gwok3 Sou3 Sam3; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Koeh Sò͘-sim; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: Kwo̍k Su-tshim; born 31 March 1964) is a Malaysian politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Seputeh since November 1999. She served as the Minister of Primary Industries in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 and Senior Member of the Selangor State Executive Council (EXCO) in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state administration under former Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim as well as Member of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Kinrara from March 2008 to May 2013. She is a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the PH coalition.

In this Chinese name, the family name is Kok (郭).
Yang Berhormat Puan
Teresa Kok
MP
郭素沁
Minister of Primary Industries
In office
2 July 2018 – 24 February 2020
MonarchsMuhammad V
(2018–2019)
Abdullah
(2019–2020)
Prime MinisterMahathir Mohamad
DeputyShamsul Iskandar Md. Akin
Preceded byMah Siew Keong
(Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities)
Succeeded byKhairuddin Aman Razali
(Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities)
ConstituencySeputeh
Senior Member of the
Selangor State Executive Council
(Investment, Trade and Industry)
In office
25 March 2008 – 29 May 2013
MonarchSharafuddin
Menteri BesarKhalid Ibrahim
Preceded byTang See Hang
(Member)
Succeeded byEan Yong Hian Wah
(Member)
ConstituencyKinrara
Member of the Malaysian Parliament
for Seputeh
Assumed office
29 November 1999
Preceded byLiew Ah Kim (DAP)
Majority5,200 (1999)
12,895 (2004)
36,492 (2008)
51,552 (2013)
56,059 (2018)
67,187 (2022)
Member of the Selangor State Legislative Assembly
for Kinrara
In office
8 March 2008 – 5 May 2013
Preceded byKow Chong Wei
(BN–MCA)
Succeeded byNg Sze Han
(PR–DAP)
Majority5,739 (2008)
Personal details
Born
Teresa Kok Suh Sim

(1964-03-31) 31 March 1964
Selangor, Malaysia
CitizenshipMalaysian
Political partyDemocratic Action Party (DAP)
Other political
affiliations		Gagasan Rakyat (GR)
Barisan Alternatif (BA)
(1999–2004)
Pakatan Rakyat (PR)
(2008–2015)
Pakatan Harapan (PH)
(since 2015)
Alma materUniversiti Malaya
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Tunku Abdul Rahman University College
OccupationPolitician
Websitewww.teresakok.com

Early life and education

Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Teresa is a third generation Malaysian of Chinese descent. Kok is a member of the Hakka dialect group and her ancestors were from Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. She commands Malay, English and Chinese Languages with fluency in Hakka and Cantonese dialects. Kok is a Catholic by religion.[1]

She graduated with a Bachelor of Communication from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in 1990, and obtained a Master of Philosophy from University of Malaya. Her thesis was on United Malays National Organization (UMNO), titled "Factionalism in Umno During Dr Mahathir's Era (1981–2001)".

Kok writes in weekly column for Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily. In 2004, she published a book compiling articles she wrote for the then Chinese daily.

Political career

Kok was political secretary to Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang from 1990 to 1995. In 1995 general election, she contested the Ipoh Barat Parliamentary seat on a DAP ticket but was defeated by the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) candidate. Kok resigned as political secretary after that to further her studies and worked part-time at the Secretariat of the Political Leaders Network Promoting Democracy in Burma (PD Burma) from 1996 till 1998.

In the 1999 general election, Kok won the Parliamentary seat of Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur with a majority of 5,200 and was re-elected in 2004 with a majority of 12,895, the largest winning margin among the 13 elected DAP MPs.

In the 2008 general election, Kok retained the Seputeh seat with a majority of 36,492, the largest majority in any constituency and won the Kinrara seat in Selangor State Legislative Assembly at the same time. She was elected in the new Selangor State Executive Council, and was named senior executive councillor who was put in charge of investment, trade and industry to ensure all funds are directed to Malaysians.

In 2013 general election, she won re-election to Parliament, garnering over 86 percent of the formal votes cast in her Seputeh constituency.

Kok was re-elected to Seputeh seat for the fifth term in the 2018 general election but on the ticket of People's Justice Party (PKR) as the move of Pakatan Harapan using a common symbol in the election.

In view of the bad market of palm oil, she launches few palm oil drinking campaign to boost the market demand on the palm oil and further inviting local tour guide to become the ambassadors for palm oil.[2]

Controversy

Advise mosque to not use speaker

In 2008, she was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA). Under the act, the police have no obligation to disclose the alleged offence if any at all. The Malay newspaper Utusan Malaysia had reported she had "advised" a mosque in Puchong not to use loudspeakers while making the azan. She denied the allegation.[3] It was found out later that a faulty loudspeaker system was the reason why the mosque did not broadcast the azan.[4] Furthermore, while there was a petition sent to the mosque, the petition requested for the mosque to lower the volume during 'ceramah' or sermons and not during the azan.[5] The administrator of the mosque, as well as the petitioners, confirmed that Kok was not involved in the petition.[6] She was released on 19 September 2008.[7][8] On 27 September, two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compound of her family residence, accompanied by a warning letter. No one was hurt.[9]

Seditious speech

In May 2014, Kok was charged with sedition for making a Chinese New Year video posted on YouTube which allegedly contained seditious elements. Kok was among the first of several other opposition politicians to be caught in a nationwide sedition dragnet.[10][11]

Threat on police

On 26 February 2022, during a speech for the 2022 Johor state election, Kok asked the police to allow them to speak for 30 more minutes. Due to the Covid-19 restrictions, speeches in the electoral campaign can only be 2 hours. Kok stated that they started the speech late at 8:30pm, so they should have 2 hours till 10:30pm, but the police in charge of the speech rejected her request. After that, she said that if Pakatan Harapan is the government, they won't set such restrictions and "warned" the police to be careful.[12] On 2 March 2022, she stated that the MCA dinner nearby had disrupted them, therefore making them starting the speech 30 minutes later Also, she stated that the police refused them to extend the speech for 30 minutes as they are the opposition.[13]

Palm oil activism

Despite the criticism from activists back home, Teresa Kok kept up with her palm oil activism despite narrow scares at the ballot box. The palm oil industry reciprocated her support by providing indirect campaign support and this drew further brickbats from critics. She admonished member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), should support one another against outside threats to an industry as important to the region as palm oil.[14] Teresa Kok also opposed World Health Organization (WHO) advice to adult to avoid palm oil in their diet during the Covid-19 outbreak and use alternatives such as olive oil.[15]

Election results
Selangor State Legislative Assembly[16][17]
Year Constituency Votes Pct Opponent(s) Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
2008 N30 Kinrara Teresa Kok (DAP) 12,990 64.11% Kow Cheong Wei (MCA) 7,251 35.79% 20,517 5,739 79.31%
Parliament of Malaysia[16][17][18][19][20][21]
Year Constituency Votes Pct Opponent(s) Votes Pct Ballots cast Majority Turnout
1995 P062 Ipoh Barat, Perak Teresa Kok (DAP) 19,747 44.51% Ho Cheong Sing (MCA) 24,616 55.49% 45,693 4,869 68.71%
1999 P110 Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur Teresa Kok (DAP) 28,657 54.33% Sua Chong Keh (MCA) 23,457 44.47% 52,995 5,200 73.59%
Liew Ah Kim (MDP) 457 0.87%
Duraichelvan Murugeson (IND) 134 0.25%
2004 P122 Seputeh, Kuala Lumpur Teresa Kok (DAP) 33,197 62.29% Banie Chin Yen Foo (MCA) 20,302 37.56% 53,499 12,895 62.29%
2008 Teresa Kok (DAP) 47,230 81.38% Carol Chew Chee Lin (MCA) 10,738 18.50% 58,207 36,492 75.70%
2013 Teresa Kok (DAP) 61,500 85.95% Nicole Wong Siaw Ting (MCA) 9,948 13.90% 71,859 51,552 83.58%
2018 Teresa Kok (DAP) 63,094 89.97% Chan Quin Er (MCA) 7,035 10.03% 70,583 56,059 81.83%
2022 Teresa Kok (DAP) 73,234 83.74% Alan Wong Yee Yeng (Gerakan) 6,047 6.91% 88,107 67,187 70.60%
Lee Kah Hing (MCA) 6,032 6.90%
Lee Wai Hong (Independent) 1,276 1.46%
Choy Sen Yeh @ Lian Choy Ling (Independent) 865 0.99%

References
  1. "About Teresa".
  2. KAUR, MANJIT (14 June 2019). "Teresa Kok wants tour guides to become ambassadors for palm oil". The Star Online. Retrieved 12 December 2019.
  3. "Saya Akan Ambil Tindakan Terhadap Utusan Malaysia & Zaini Hassan". Teresa Kok. 11 September 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  4. "Faulty PA system the cause of 'silent' azan". Malaysiakini. 12 September 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  5. "Petition not about 'azan' but religious 'ceramah'". Malaysiakini. 12 September 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  6. "Kok not involved in azan petition, says mosque". Malaysiakini. 13 September 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  7. "Teresa: "I was made a scapegoat..."". Sun2Surf. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 26 July 2009. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
  8. "Teresa Kok released". TheEdgeDaily. 19 September 2008. Archived from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
  9. "TERESA KOK SEES MOLOTOV COCKTAIL INCIDENT AS SCARE TACTIC". Yahoo! News. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  10. "Teresa Kok charged with sedition over controversial Chinese New Year video". The Star (Malaysia). 6 May 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  11. "Dragnet proves urgency to axe Sedition Act, Suhakam tells Putrajaya". The Malay Mail Online. 2 September 2014. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  12. "Threatening cops? DAP leaders have started sparking hatred in the Johor polls". The Star. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  13. "DAP denied extension for event as we are in opposition, says Kok". Free Malaysia Today. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  14. "Malaysia calls on Southeast Asia to back palm oil against EU's 'unfair' claims".
  15. "Ex-minister Kok slams 'ignorant' WHO over palm oil advisory".
  16. "Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri". Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 27 May 2010. Percentage figures based on total turnout.
  17. "Malaysia General Election". undiinfo Malaysian Election Data. Malaysiakini. Retrieved 5 May 2014. Results only available from the 2004 election.
  18. "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pilihan Raya Umum. Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  19. "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pilihan Raya Umum (in Malay). Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  20. "PRU-13". Utusan. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
  21. "SEMAKAN KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM KE - 14" (in Malay). Election Commission of Malaysia. Retrieved 17 May 2018. Percentage figures based on total turnout.

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