Sivarasa a/l Rasiah ( ta, சிவராசா ராசையா, Civarācā rācaiyā; born 8 December 1956), or also known as R. Sivarasa is a

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regar ...

politician,

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and human rights

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...

of Ceylonese and Sri Lankan descent who served as the Deputy Minister of Rural Development in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration under former Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad ( ms, محاضير بن محمد, label= Jawi, script=arab, italic=unset; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author, and physician who served as the 4th and 7th Prime Minister of Malaysia. He held the office ...

and former Minister Rina Harun from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sungai Buloh from May 2018 to November 2022 and for Subang from March 2008 to May 2018. He is a member and former Vice-President of the People's Justice Party (PKR), a component party of the PH opposition coalition. He is co-founder of the

Suara Rakyat Malaysia Suara Rakyat Malaysia, better known by its abbreviation SUARAM (Malay language, Malay for "Voice of the Malaysian People"), is a Human rights in Malaysia, human rights organisation in Malaysia created in 1987 after Operation Lalang, when 106 op ...

(SUARAM), a human rights non-governmental organisation (NGO).

Early life

Though today he may be one of the top and prominent lawyers in Kuala Lumpur, however, his first degree was actually in genetics. Reminiscing on his early days in an interview with the

New Straits Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as ''The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ' ...

, Siva said, "I was trying to get into medicine after high school in Victoria Institution but didn't make the grade. Form Five was great but I guess in Form Six, there were many distractions. So instead I went into genetics in Universiti Malaya and graduated with first class honours. Six months into my Master's I realised that this was not my cup of tea and was already looking at other options.” He then applied for a

Rhodes scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

to pursue law at Oxford University. After completing his law degree and the Bar in Britain, Siva took a year off and went to Germany where he spent most of his time in libraries there reading. He worked for a bit after that in London before returning to Malaysia on his 30th birthday.

Activism and politics

MP of Sungai Buloh Community Service Center

It was while he was in the United Kingdom that he got interested in human rights and "became involved with union workers and stuff like that there". His first involvement with an NGO was in 1997 when he got involved with a women's group called Citizens Against Rape. Siva got arrested twice during the 1998 Reformasi period but shrugs it off as part and parcel of the job. He later joined PKR. In the 2008 general election, Sivarasa was elected as the Member of Parliament for Subang, defeating his opponent by a 6,000 vote majority; he went on to keep the seat in the

2013 general election Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

. In the 2018 general election, Sivarasa was reelected for his parliamentary seat which was renamed as Sungai Buloh in an earlier redelineation exercise. Sivarasa was appointed Deputy Minister of Rural Development of Malaysia and sworn in on 2 July 2018 in the presence of His Majesty the

Yang di Pertuan Agong The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (, Jawi: ), also known as the Supreme Head of the Federation, the Paramount Ruler or simply as the Agong, and unofficially as the King of Malaysia, is the constitutional monarch and head of state of Malaysia. The of ...

of Malaysia.

Personal life

He is married to Ann James, a personality in the Malaysian theatre scene. He met his wife at a demonstration as well. "It was during ''

Operasi Lalang Operation Lalang ( ms, Operasi Lalang, also referred as Ops Lalang and taken to mean "Weeding Operation" or "Operation Weeding") was a major crackdown between 27 October and 20 November 1987 undertaken by the Royal Malaysian Police, ostensibly ...

'' and she was there too. We were kind of thrown together and that's when it all happened. After a long courtship, we finally got married in 1993", he revealed in the NST interview. Although Sivarasa has had brushes with the police, both his father and his older brother were members of the force; his father was the registrar of the police force and his older brother was a senior police officer. This lawyer-cum-politician is a cancer survivor who lost his voice for almost a year due to thyroid cancer which damaged a nerve on his vocal cords. He had to speak with a little boom box and a speaker for a while due to this. He has regained his voice but he says, "I can't sing or shout, but at least I still can talk.” He is also an avid guitar player.

Election results

See all

Subang (federal constituency) Subang is a federal constituency in Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Dewan Rakyat since 1995. The federal constituency was created from parts of the Shah Alam constituency in the 1994 redistribution and is ...

* Sungai Buloh (federal constituency)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasiah, Sivarasa Living people 1956 births People from Selangor Malaysian politicians of Indian descent Malaysian politicians of Tamil descent Malaysian people of Sri Lankan Tamil descent Malaysian Hindus Malaysian people of Indian descent 20th-century Malaysian lawyers Malaysian human rights activists People's Justice Party (Malaysia) politicians Members of the Dewan Rakyat University of Malaya alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford 21st-century Malaysian politicians