Teresa Kok

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Yang Berhormat Puan
 Teresa Kok Suh Sim
(Chinese : 郭素沁) Image:Seputeh.jpg
Member of Parliament
for Seputeh
Incumbent
Assumed office 
November 26, 1999
Preceded by Liew Ah Kim
Member of the Selangor State Assembly
for Kinrara
Incumbent
Assumed office 
March 8, 2008
Preceded by Dr. Kow Chong Wei
Majority 5,739
Selangor Senior Executive Councillor
Incumbent
Assumed office 
March 8, 2008
Born 31 March 1964 (1964-03-31) (age 45)
Political party Flag of Malaysia DAP - Pakatan Rakyat
Occupation Flag of Malaysia Member of Parliament, Selongor State Legislative Member
Religion Roman Catholic
Website TeresaKok.com

Teresa Kok Suh Sim (Chinese: 郭素沁, born March 31, 1964) is a Malaysian Member of Parliament from the Democratic Action Party (DAP).

Contents

[edit] Background

Kok is a member of the Hakka dialect group and her ancestors were from Huizhou, Guangdong Province, China. She speaks Malay, English and Chinese fluently. Kok is a devoted Catholic.[citation needed]

She earned her first degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), graduating in the School of Communication, and; a second degree from University Malaya in political science, and a master of philosophy. Her thesis was on UMNO, titled "Factionalism in Umno During Dr Mahathir's Era (1981 - 2001)".

[edit] Politics

Kok was political secretary to Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang from 1990 to 1995. In 1995, she contested the Ipoh Barat Parliamentary seat on a DAP ticket but was defeated by the MCA candidate. Kok resigned as political secretary after that to further her studies.

In the 1999 General Elections, 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 Elections, Kok retained her Parliamentary seat of Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur with a majority of 36,492, the largest majority in any constituency. In the new Selangor executive council, she was named senior executive councillor and put in charge of investment, trade and industry to ensure all funds are directed to Malaysians.

Teresa was reelected into Central Executive Committee of DAP during the party's National Congress (23-24 August 2008) in Kuala Lumpur. She is currently the DAP National Organising Secretary, prior to this position she was DAP Publicity Secretary. She is also the National Secretary of DAP Wanita (the women's wing of the DAP) and a member of the DAP Disciplinary Committee. In Parliament, she was a member of the Select Committee on Review of Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code.

Kok is the Secretary of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC). She was an active lobbyist for Burmese democracy and human rights since 1996 when she was the Coordinator of Political Leaders Network Promoting Democracy in Burma (PD Burma) in Southeast Asian region.

[edit] Detention under ISA

Teresa Kok was arrested near OUG Heights at on Friday September 12 2008 under Section 73 (1) of the Internal Security Act (ISA). Under the act, the police have no obligation to disclose the alleged offense if any at all.

Teresa Kok's arrest followed the arrests of prominent blogger activist Raja Petra Kamaruddin and journalist Tan Hoon Cheng (陈云清) from the Sin Chew Daily News earlier on that day.[1][2][3]

Prior to her arrest, the Malay daily Utusan Malaysia and its columnist for an article had claimed that Teresa Kok had "advised" a mosque in Puchong not to use loudspeakers while making the azan or the Islamic calls to prayer. Teresa Kok had issued a denial against the allegation.[4] The Selangor state government was giving all parties involved in making the claim a week to issue a retraction and apology. [5]

It was found out later that a faulty loudspeaker system was the reason why the mosque did not broadcast the azan.[6] 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 azan.[7] The administrator of the mosque as well as the petitioners also confirmed that Kok was not involved in the petition.[8]

Member of Parliament for Kota Raja, Dr Siti Mariah Mahmood of PAS lodged a police report against a blog website called Pembela Melayu, Selangor Opposition Leader Mohd Khir Toyo for defaming Kok by alleging that Kok had supported a petition by the Chinese in Kinrara against the azan in their area. The website also alleged that Seri Serdang assemblyman Satim Diman had raised the issue at the state assembly but did not get a response.[9][10]

She was released on 19 September 2008 at 1.30pm after serving seven-day detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA). She has claimed that she was made scapegoat in the move to contain the outrage over the alleged racist remarks. "I see my detention as a ploy by Umno to try to cover up the embarrassment and the outrage over the racist statements made by (Bukit Bendera Umno division chief) Ahmad Ismail in Penang," she told a press conference shortly after her release at the DAP headquarters. "I wonder why they chose an innocent person like me as I have never made any racist remarks or racist speeches in the past," she said, adding that she has instructed her lawyer to sue the government for her unlawful arrest and detention. She also urged police to investigate her report lodged against Utusan Malaysia, columnist Zaini Hassan and former Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo under the Penal Code.[11][12]

[edit] Food controversy

Immediately after her release, she was embroiled in a controversy in which she claimed the quality of food served to her during her incarceration was so bad that it was similar to dog food.[13] Utusan Malaysia reported her statement.[14] Kok claimed Utusan was manipulating her words, denied making that statement and instead insisted that she had said that the food was only slightly better than dog food.[15] She later admitted to making contradictory statements.[16]

Her complaint caused the government to investigate the quality of food served to detainees in Malaysian police lock-ups.[17]

[edit] Threats

On September 27 2008, two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the family home of Seputeh MP Teresa Kok in Taman Rainbow, Jalan Ipoh. A warning letter containing threatening words and vulgarities was also attached to a bottle left outside the house. At the time, Teresa’s parents and her siblings were in the house, none was hurt in the incident. [1][18]

[edit] Lawsuit Against Utusan

Teresa Kok has filed a RM30mil suit against Utusan Melayu Berhad and the paper's columnist Zaini Hassan over an article that allegedly defamed her. She claims the article portrayed her as a racist, a religious bigot, an untrustworthy person and a chauvinistic politician who was against Islam.[19][20][21]

[edit] Controversy

[edit] Hill slope development allegation

The Sun's journalist and columnist R. Nadeswaran and Terence Fernandez alleged that Teresa Kok and Ronnie Liu were organizing a meeting between Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (REDHA) and the Selangor Chief Minister Khalid Ibrahim to lobby a repeal of a moratorium on hill slope development in Selangor.[22][23] Kok denied the allegation and stated that it was only a meeting.[24]

[edit] Book

In 2004, Kok published a book compiling articles she wrote for the then Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh. She continues to write a weekly column for the Chinese daily Sin Chew.

[edit] Election results

Year Parliamentary seat Votes Obtained Majority Ballots Cast Opponent Turnout
1999 P110 Seputeh 28,657 won by 5,200 52,705 Dr Sua Chong Keh (BN - MCA)
Liew Ah Kim (Malaysian Democratic Party (MDP))		 73.59 %
2004 P122 Seputeh 33,197 won by 12,895 53,718 Chin Yen Foo (BN - MCA) 71.91%
2008 P122 Seputeh 47,230 won by 36,492 58,207 Carol Chew Chee Lin (BN - MCA) 75.70%
Year State Legislative Assembly seat Votes Obtained Majority Ballots Cast Opponent Turnout
2008 P103 Puchong N30 Kinrara 12,990 won by 5,739 20,496 Kow Cheong Wei (BN - MCA) 79.31 %

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Teresa Kok, Sin Chew reporter arrested under the same section of ISA". TheStar (TheStar Online). 2008-09-12. http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/12/nation/20080912221723&sec=nation. Retrieved on 2008-09-12. 
  2. ^ "Teresa Kok joins ISA list". The Malaysian Insider (Malaysian Insider). 2008-09-12. http://m.themalaysianinsider.com/articles.php?id=8918. Retrieved on 2008-09-12. 
  3. ^ "Teresa Kok Detained Under ISA". Sin Chew (Sin Chew). 2008-09-13. http://www.mysinchew.com/node/16190?tid=4. Retrieved on 2008-09-13. 
  4. ^ "Saya Akan Ambil Tindakan Terhadap Utusan Malaysia & Zaini Hassan". Teresa Kok. 2008-09-11. 
  5. ^ "Selangor threatens to sue daily". NST. 2008-09-11. http://www.nst.com.my/Thursday/National/2346630/Article/index_html. Retrieved on 2008-09-11. 
  6. ^ "Faulty PA system the cause of 'silent' azan". Malaysiakini. 2008-09-12. http://malaysiakini.com/news/89556. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  7. ^ "Petition not about 'azan' but religious 'ceramah'". Malaysiakini. 2008-09-12. http://malaysiakini.com/news/89587. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  8. ^ "Kok not involved in azan petition, says mosque". Malaysiakini. 2008-09-13. http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/89639. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  9. ^ "PAS MP lodges report against Khir Toyo". TheSun. 2008-09-11. http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=25587. Retrieved on 2008-09-11. 
  10. ^ "Kota Raja MP lodges report against Khir". The STar. 2008-09-12. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/12/nation/2009497&sec=nation. Retrieved on 2008-09-14. 
  11. ^ "Teresa: "I was made a scapegoat..."". Sun2Surf. 2008-09-19. http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=25858. Retrieved on 2008-09-19. 
  12. ^ "Teresa Kok released". TheEdgeDaily. 2008-09-19. http://www.theedgedaily.com/cms/content.jsp?id=com.tms.cms.article.Article_790406d5-cb73c03a-1f195fc0-c0da1060. Retrieved on 2008-09-19. 
  13. ^ "Kok’s ISA meal gripe hammered". The Star. 2008-09-23. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/23/nation/2090902&sec=nation. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 
  14. ^ "Makanan anjing: Bekas tahanan ISA sangkal Teresa Kok". Utusan Malaysia. 2008-09-22. http://utusan.com.my/utusan/info.asp?y=2008&dt=0922&pub=utusan_malaysia&sec=muka_hadapan&pg=mh_08.htm&arc=hive. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 
  15. ^ "Teresa, Selangor State Govt to sue Utusan". New Straits Times. 2008-09-25. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/2359235/Article/index_html. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 
  16. ^ "Teresa, Selangor State Govt to sue Utusan". New Straits Times. 2008-09-25. http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/news/story/0,4136,177963,00.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 
  17. ^ "Malaysia to investigate poor food quality in police lock-ups". Monsters and Critics. 2008-09-23. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/asiapacific/news/article_1432504.php/Malaysia_to_investigate_poor_food_quality_in_police_lock-ups_. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 
  18. ^ "TERESA KOK SEES MOLOTOV COCKTAIL INCIDENT AS SCARE TACTIC". Yahoo! News. 2008-09-28. http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/bnm/20080927/tts-teresa-bomb-993ba14.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-28. 
  19. ^ "Kok files suit against Utusan". The Star Online. 2008-10-10. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/10/10/courts/2236732&sec=courts. Retrieved on 2008-10-10. 
  20. ^ "Kok sues Utusan and editor". NST Online. 2008-10-10. http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Friday/Frontpage/2371148/Article/index_html. Retrieved on 2008-10-10. 
  21. ^ "Kok Sues Utusan For RM30 Million". SinChew. 2008-10-09. http://www.mysinchew.com/node/17152?tid=14. Retrieved on 2008-10-09. 
  22. ^ "Hillslope policy to be reversed?". The Sun. 2008-08-14. http://www.sun2surf.com/articlePrint.cfm?id=24720. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 
  23. ^ "No to hillslope projects". The Star. 2008-04-04. 
  24. ^ "The accusation that the Selangor Government intends to reverse policy on the ban on hill slope development is fictitious". DAP. 2008-08-18. http://www.dapmalaysia.org/english/2008/aug08/bul/bul3513.htm. Retrieved on 2008-09-27. 

[edit] Others

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_Kok"
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