Teresa Kok

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.

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 the 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.

Controversies

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. It was found out later that a faulty loudspeaker system was the reason why the mosque did not broadcast the azan. 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. The administrator of the mosque, as well as the petitioners, confirmed that Kok was not involved in the petition. She was released on 19 September 2008. On 27 September, two Molotov cocktails were thrown into the compound of her family residence, accompanied by a warning letter. No one was hurt.

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.

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. 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.

Opposition to the halal certification proposal

On 7 September 2024, Kok voiced her opposition to the proposal by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) to make the halal certification compulsory for restaurants and food establishments that do not serve pork or alcohol. Kok said that this could be a burden to small businesses and restricts consumer freedom. Her opposition was met with fierce criticisms, with UMNO Youth Chief Muhamad Akmal Saleh likening Kok to as 'nyonya tua' and sarcastically called for the government to create a non-halal logo and paste on Kok's forehead as well as asking Kok to keep quiet if she did not understand the proposal. Opposition politicians from Perikatan Nasional (PN) also slammed Kok for playing up with sensitive and religious issues involving Islam. More than 20 police reports were also lodged against Kok's statement. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim clarified that Kok's stance is not similar to that of PH and described Kok's comments as unnecessary. However, several politicians such as Minister of Transport and DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke Siew Fook, former Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Zaid Ibrahim and former Deputy Chief Minister of Penang II Ramasamy Palanisamy defended Kok, arguing that Kok was just carrying out her responsibility as an MP as well as speaking and expressing the concerns on behalf of the people especially the non-Muslims. Kok later has her statement recorded in the police headquarters. With the presence of her party leaders and supporters such as DAP National Chairman Lim Guan Eng, they reiterated their previous arguments in shield of Kok. Lim also reaffirmed the party's full support for her in a press conference held shortly after recording her statement.

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. 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.

Election results

Honours

Honours of Malaysia

• Malaysia
  • [[File:MY Pingat Pertabalan Yang di-Pertuan Agong XVII ribbon.png|50px]] Recipient of the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Installation Medal (2024)

References

Others

• Kok, Teresa (2002). "Government Should Not Send The Rohingya Refugees Who Broke Into The UNHCR Office Back To Burma". Retrieved 5 November 2005.
• Kok, Teresa (2005). "Teresa Kok Suh Sim". Retrieved 29 October 2005.

References

1. "About Teresa".
2. KAUR, MANJIT. (2019-06-14). "Teresa Kok wants tour guides to become ambassadors for palm oil".
3. (11 September 2008). "Saya Akan Ambil Tindakan Terhadap Utusan Malaysia & Zaini Hassan". Teresa Kok.
4. (12 September 2008). "Faulty PA system the cause of 'silent' azan". Malaysiakini.
5. (12 September 2008). "Petition not about 'azan' but religious 'ceramah'". Malaysiakini.
6. (13 September 2008). "Kok not involved in azan petition, says mosque". Malaysiakini.
7. (19 September 2008). "Teresa: "I was made a scapegoat..."". Sun2Surf.
8. (19 September 2008). "Teresa Kok released". TheEdgeDaily.
9. (28 September 2008). "TERESA KOK SEES MOLOTOV COCKTAIL INCIDENT AS SCARE TACTIC". Yahoo! News.
10. (6 May 2014). "Teresa Kok charged with sedition over controversial Chinese New Year video". The Star (Malaysia).
11. (2 September 2014). "Dragnet proves urgency to axe Sedition Act, Suhakam tells Putrajaya". The Malay Mail Online.
12. "Threatening cops? DAP leaders have started sparking hatred in the Johor polls".
13. (March 2, 2022). "DAP denied extension for event as we are in opposition, says Kok".
14. (6 May 2019). "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]].
17. "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". [[Election Commission of Malaysia]].
18. "KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM 13". [[Election Commission of Malaysia]].
19. "PRU-13". Utusan.
20. "SEMAKAN KEPUTUSAN PILIHAN RAYA UMUM KE - 14". [[Election Commission of Malaysia]].