M. Kulasegaran

M. Kula Segaran s/o V. Murugeson (; born 10 August 1957), commonly referred to as Kula, is a Malaysian politician and barrister who has served as the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Laws and Institutional Reforms in the Unity Government administration under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Minister Azalina Othman Said since December 2023 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipoh Barat since March 2004. He served as the Minister of Human Resources in the PH administration under former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad from May 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 and the MP for Teluk Intan from May 1997 to November 1999. He is a member and National Vice Chairman of the Democratic Action Party (DAP), a component party of the PH and formerly Pakatan Rakyat (PR) and Barisan Alternatif (BA) coalitions. His appointment as a deputy minister in December 2023 is rare in Malaysian politics since he was a former federal minister in the Seventh Mahathir cabinet back in 2018. He is one of the three deputy ministers who were previously a federal minister alongside Shamsul Anuar Nasarah and Noraini Ahmad. In February 2025, Kulasegaran announced that he was stepping back to support the party's renewal efforts and make way for younger leaders.

Early life and education

M. Kula Segaran was born to a rubber tapper father in an estate in Sitiawan, Perak. Growing up, he and his brother had to look after cows, goats and also clean up the containers used to gather latex after school. In 1982, he was admitted as barrister at Lincoln's Inn in London.

Political career

Kula Segaran, is an ethnic Tamil and a barrister by profession who joins the DAP, has voiced many issues affecting the Malaysian Indian community. He has claimed that "Indians are treated like third-class citizens" and also criticised the demolition of Hindu temples in the country.

Member of Parliament

He was first elected to Parliament in a 1997 by-election for the seat of Telok Intan as DAP candidate. He shifted to the seat of Ipoh Barat at the 1999 general election, but lost. He re-contested the seat in the 2004 election, and this time won by a narrow margin. He was re-elected by wider margins in subsequent 2008 election, 2013 election and 2018 election.

Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA)

Kula was made chairman of the Malaysian chapter of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) in 2019. He is also an executive board member of the group. In that capacity he has been advocating the need for Malaysia to ratify the Rome Statute to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and to call for the Abolishment of the Mandatory Death Penalty and the ratification of The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

Minister of Human Resources

After the Pakatan Harapan coalition of which the DAP is part of, emerged victorious in the 2018 general election to forming the Federal Government, new Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad appointed Kula Segaran's as the Minister of Human Resources in May 2018. He sparked interest on social media for wearing thallapa during swearing-in ceremony as a minister.

Kula is the first Human Resources Minister to conduct the National Labour Advisory Council (NLAC) 10 times in a year (2019). Established in 2002, NLAC is the national tripartite advisory and consultative body, involving the government, unions (MTUC), and employers (MEF), to advise the Minister of Human Resources on local labour and human resource matters in relation to international labour standards. As a result of these NLAC consultations, amendments were subsequently made to several key labour laws. These included amendments to the Industrial Relations Act 1967, which came into effect in 2020, amendments to the Employees' Social Security Act 1959, which came into effect in 2022, and significant amendments to the Employment Act 1955, which came into effect on 1 January 2023.

Kula also made international headlines for declaring War on Human Trafficking in Malaysia after acknowledging that the country had been hurting from it. The Minister held Townhall sessions with employers urging them to start being more accountable and to assist the government in eradicating Forced Labour. Kula urged employers to start incorporating Social Compliance Audit reports as part of their accountability. The Minister wants to move up from being at Tier 2 Watchlist of the US State Department's Trafficking in Persons report and is working closely with stakeholders to achieve this. He has overseen several law amendments to better protect against discrimination as well as enhancing worker's rights and social protection. Kula has also championed the rights of the Orang Asli community as provided them a pathway to learn technical skills through Institutes under the Ministry. 17 Orang Asli students were enrolled in ILP Ipoh in 2020 following the 7 enrolled in 2019 after the encouragement of the Minister. As outlines in Kula's 2019 achievements as Minister, most notably was Empowering TVET learning to prepare for future jobs and emerging technologies that are shaping the industries of the future.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (since 2023)

In a cabinet reshuffle on 12 December 2023, Kula made a comeback to the government as the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of Parliament and Institutional Reforms, deputising for Minister Azalina. His appointment to the position was seen as a demotion as he was previously a Cabinet minister. On 23 January 2024, Kula revealed that preparation work on a Bill on the separation of powers between the Attorney-General and the Public Prosecutor was in its final phase and it would likely be tabled by the end of 2024 after holding discussions with stakeholders and comparing it with the ones in Australia, Kenya and so on. On 3 February 2024, Kula called for a comprehensive and transparent inquiry to investigate how 131 undocumented immigrants escaped the Bidor Immigration Depot in an incident to implement necessary measures to prevent it from happening again. In addition, he urged for an independent task force of eminent persons or a parliamentary select committee to be set up to carry out a probe. He also acknowledged the swift response of the law enforcement agencies stationed at the depot to keep their fellow officers safe during the escape. He also added that the process must be unbiased to instill confidence in the public and the integrity of the process must be upheld by making the investigation report public.

In February 2025, Kulasegaran announced his decision not to contest in the upcoming party election for the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC). He stated that he was stepping back to support the party's renewal efforts and make way for younger leaders, while reaffirming his commitment to the party's principles.

Controversy

In 2007, Kula Segaran was suspended from Parliament for four days for disobeying the Deputy Speaker, and in 2008 he was called a "bastard" and a "bloody bastard" by a government politician whom he accused of being "hated" by Indian constituents.

During a visit to an event in 2018, he sparked controversy when he asserted that, given the presence of Indian traders in Bujang Valley over 1,000 years ago in the Malay Peninsula, the Indians should not be considered 'pendatang' (immigrants) and should regard Malaysia as their motherland. His remarks also led to misunderstandings, with claims that he stated Malays were also immigrants. Following public objections, he subsequently apologised and clarified his statements.

Less than a year later during 2019 Rantau by-election, he was criticized for his speech urging Indian voters to vote for the Pakatan Harapan candidate Dr. Streram Sinnasamy due to him being from the same community as they are. He also claimed that the Indian community would never approach non-Indian ministers to resolve their problems and admitted his preference to eat at Indian restaurants when he visited Rantau.

Election results

Honours

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** Recipient of the 17th Yang di-Pertuan Agong Installation Medal

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kulasegaran, M.
Living people
1957 births
People from Sitiawan
Malaysian Hindus
20th-century Malaysian lawyers
Malaysian politicians of Indian descent
Malaysian politicians of Tamil descent
Democratic Action Party (Malaysia) politicians
Government ministers of Malaysia
Malaysian MPs 1995–1999
Malaysian MPs 2004–2008
Malaysian MPs 2008–2013
Malaysian MPs 2013–2018
Malaysian MPs 2018–2022
Malaysian MPs 2022–