Sivarasa Rasiah

{{short description|Malaysian politician, lawyer and human rights activist}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Sivarasa Rasiah

| native_name = {{nobold|சிவராசா ராசையா}}

| honorific-suffix =

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Sivarasa a/l K. Rasiah

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1956|12|8|df=y}}

| birth_place = Selangor, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia)

| residence =

| death_date =

| death_place =

| parliament2 = Malaysian

| constituency_MP2 = Subang

| term_start2 = 8 March 2008

| term_end2 = 9 May 2018

| majority2 = 6,709 (2008)
26,719 (2013)

| predecessor2 = K. S. Nijhar
(BN–MIC)

| successor2 = Wong Chen
(PH–PKR)

| office = Deputy Minister of Rural Development

| term_start = 2 July 2018

| term_end = 24 February 2020

| monarch = Muhammad V
{{small|(2018–2019)}}
Abdullah
{{small|(2019–2020)}}

| primeminister = Mahathir Mohamad

| minister = Rina Harun

| predecessor = Alexander Nanta Linggi
{{small|(Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development I)}}
Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub
{{small|(Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development II)}}

| successor = Abdul Rahman Mohamad
{{small|(Deputy Minister of Rural Development I)}}
Henry Sum Agong
{{small|(Deputy Minister of Rural Development II)}}

| constituency = Sungai Buloh

| constituency_MP1 = Sungai Buloh

| parliament1 = Malaysian

| term_start1 = 9 May 2018

| term_end1 = 19 November 2022

| predecessor1 = Position established

| successor1 = Ramanan Ramakrishnan
(PH–PKR)

| majority1 = 26,634 (2018)

| party = People's Justice Party (PKR)

| otherparty = Pakatan Harapan (PH)
Pakatan Rakyat (PR)
Barisan Alternatif (BA)

| occupation = Politician, lawyer

| spouse = Anne James

| children =

| alma_mater = University of Malaya
University of Oxford

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Sivarasa a/l K. Rasiah ({{langx|ta|சிவராசா ராசையா|Civarācā rācaiyā}}; born 8 December 1956), or also known as R. Sivarasa is a Malaysian politician, lawyer and human rights activist 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 and former Minister Rina Harun from July 2018 to the collapse of the PH administration in February 2020 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sungai Buloh 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 (NGO).{{cite news|url=http://reps.sinarproject.org/mp/sivarasa-rasiah|title=Sivarasa Rasiah is a prominent Malaysian politician, lawyer and human rights activist. He is currently the Member of Parliament for Subang.|date=4 August 2012|work= Rahul SK|publisher=Malaysian Representatives Alpha|access-date=13 June 2016}}{{cite news|url=http://www.thesundaily.my/node/168981|title=ACA questions PKR's Sivarasa on damning video clip.|date=28 September 2007|publisher=The Sun Daily|access-date=16 June 2016}}

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, 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 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

File:MP of Sungai Buloh Community Service Center.jpg.]]

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;{{cite web |url=http://www.sivarasa4subang.com/site/archives/86 |title=Sivarasa Wins! |access-date=8 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080312011121/http://www.sivarasa4subang.com/site/archives/86 |archive-date=12 March 2008 |df=dmy-all }} 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 of Malaysia.{{Cite news|url=https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/malaysia-swears-in-13-ministers-and-23-deputy-ministers-10490684|title=Malaysia swears in 13 ministers and 23 deputy ministers|work=Channel NewsAsia|access-date=2018-07-13|language=en-US}}

Personal life

{{Original research|section|date=December 2013}}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 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 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

class="wikitable" style="margin:0.5em ; font-size:95%"

|+ Parliament of Malaysia{{cite web|url=http://semak.spr.gov.my/spr/laporan/5_KedudukanAkhir.php|title=Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri|publisher=Election Commission of Malaysia|language=ms|access-date=1 May 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://keputusan.pru13.gov.my/5_KeputusanDR.php?kod=10700|title=Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum Parlimen 2013|publisher=Election Commission of Malaysia|language=ms|access-date=6 May 2013}}{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite web|url=http://resultpru13.spr.gov.my/module/keputusan/paparan/paparan_laporan.php|title=Keputusan Pilihan Raya Umum 13 Parlimen/Dewan Undangan Negeri 2013|publisher=Election Commission of Malaysia|access-date=8 May 2016}}

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1999