Sivarasa a/l K. Rasiah (; born 8 December 1956), or also known as R. Sivarasa is a Malaysian

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

activist Activism 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 common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

of Ceylonese and Sri Lankan descent who served as the Deputy Minister of Rural Development in the

Pakatan Harapan Pakatan Harapan (PH; stylised as HARAPAN; ) is a Malaysian Parliamentary group, political coalition consisting of Centre-left politics, centre-left political parties which was formed in 2015 to succeed the Pakatan Rakyat coalition. It has led ...

(PH) administration under former Prime Minister

Mahathir Mohamad Mahathir bin Mohamad (; ; born 10 July 1925) is a Malaysian politician, author and doctor who was respectively the fourth and seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia, prime minister of Malaysia from 1981 to 2003 and from 2018 to 2020. He was the ...

and former Minister

Rina Harun Rina binti Mohd Harun (Jawi alphabet, Jawi: رينا بنت محمد هارون) is a Malaysian people, Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Women, Family and Community Development (Malaysia), Minister of Women, Family and Community D ...

from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Sungai Buloh Sungai Buloh, or Sungei Buloh, is a town, a mukim (commune) and a Dewan Rakyat, parliamentary constituency in the northern part of Petaling District, Selangor, Malaysia. The name itself means ''bamboo river'' in the Malay language. It is located ...

from May 2018 to November 2022 as well as 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 coalition. He is co-founder of the Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM), a human rights

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

(NGO).

Early life

Though today he may be one of the top and prominent lawyers in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, however, his first degree was actually in

genetics Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...

. 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 a local offshoot of Singapore-based ''The Straits Ti ...

, Siva said, "I was trying to get into medicine after high school in

Victoria Institution The Victoria Institution is the oldest secondary school in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is a memorial school, so-called because it was partly funded by public subscription intended for the erection of a permanent memorial to commemorate the Golden ...

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 The Universiti Malaya (lit 'University of Malaya'; abbreviated UM) is a public research university located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the oldest Malaysian institution of higher education, and was the only university in newly independent ...

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 Oxford, United Kingdom. The scholarship is open to people from all backgrounds around the world. Established in 1902, it is ...

to pursue law at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. 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 Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

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. 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 King of Malaysia, officially ''Yang di-Pertuan Agong'' ( Jawi: ), is the constitutional monarch and ceremonial head of state of Malaysia. The office was established in 1957, when the Federation of Malaya gained independence from the Uni ...

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 (, also called Ops Lalang and taken to mean "Operation Weeding") was a major crackdown undertaken by the Royal Malaysian Police from 27 October to 20 November 1987, ostensibly to prevent the occurrence of race riots in Malays ...

'' 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. He is also a cancer survivor who lost his voice for almost a year due to

thyroid cancer Thyroid cancer is cancer that develops from the tissues of the thyroid gland. It is a disease in which cells grow abnormally and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body. Symptoms can include swelling or a lump in the neck, ...

which damaged a nerve on his

vocal cords In humans, the vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are folds of throat tissues that are key in creating sounds through Speech, vocalization. The length of the vocal cords affects the pitch of voice, similar to a violin string. Open when brea ...

. 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) Sungai Buloh is a federal constituency in Gombak District, Petaling District and Kuala Selangor District, Selangor, Malaysia, that has been represented in the Dewan Rakyat The Dewan Rakyat (; Jawi script, Jawi: ), is the lower house of the B ...

References

{{Authority control 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 University of Malaya alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Malaysian MPs 2008–2013 Malaysian MPs 2013–2018 Malaysian MPs 2018–2022