HOURS before her announcement as the candidate for the Bakri parliamentary seat, Yeo Bee Yin said it was her passion for institutional reform that prompted her to leave her “safe” seat in Damansara Utama, Selangor.

“There’s no more comfort zone. Everything I built the last five years is gone. And in its place is uncertainty,” said Yeo, who had just returned from a ceramah in Kundang Ulu late last night.

“But the thought that I could help take the fight to Johor and the chance of reforming key institutions helped me decide,” said the DAP national assistant publicity secretary.

The 35-year-old chemical engineer had announced last week that she was leaving her Damansara Utama state seat to return to contest in her home state, Johor.

Today, she was announced as Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for Bakri federal seat in Johor, a frontline state in the 14th general election for the opposition coalition in its bid to wrest Putrajaya from the ruling Barisan Nasional.

During the 2013 elections, Yeo became the youngest Selangor lawmaker at the age of 30, when she bagged Damansara Utama with 83.6% of the votes.

The Malaysian Insight reported on Wednesday that she would replace two-term MP Er Teck Hwa as the Bakri candidate in the upcoming elections, although Yeo had declined to confirm or deny it then.

Er, who was one of the surprise winners in 2013 elections, said he would leave his seat to make way for new faces.

Lessons from Selangor

Looking back on her five years as a state legislator, Yeo said she learnt a lot about politics.

Yeo, who had a keen interest in education issues, said she learnt midway into her five-year term that only institutional reform could bring about meaningful change to Malaysia.

“I went to public schools because we weren’t rich as a family,” said Yeo, who had five other siblings.

“But I count myself as one of those who was very, very lucky. I had great teachers,” said the trained chemical engineer.

Despite the inability to afford tuition, her teachers helped her do well enough to obtain scholarships from Universiti Teknologi Petronas, and then Cambridge University.

Sadly, this isn’t the case anymore for the majority of Malaysians, said Yeo.

“While the rich can afford to send their children to private schools, the poor can’t. And this widens the gap between them,” she explained.

While she started tuition programmes in her constituency, Yeo knew that it was only a limited effort.

“It’s really through reforming the education system that we can make it better for everyone else. We must make every ringgit spent accountable,” she said.

Her experience in Selangor has also taught her about how stronger, independent institutions can free politicians for better policy-making.

“Selangor has changed a lot through better institutions, although there’s still room for improvement. But I realised better institutions meant more time for me to keep the executive in check,” said Yeo.

One incident that helped her recognise this was when a young man approached her for help after an accident.

She said he had needed a stent that cost RM30,000 but she did not have sufficient funds for it.

“We managed to help him by crowdsourcing for the funds. But if we had a better medical system, he wouldn’t have to go around looking for money.”

It was also at this point that Yeo said she grasped the influence she had.

“Just by doing a little, a life was saved. Legislators do more than make policies, and they can influence people positively.”

Politicians are just normal people

But politicians must not let this get to their heads, she said.

“When I first started, I was surprised that people treated me like a VIP. But I soon realised that it was not for what I had already done or the policies that I had crafted. It was for the office I represented.

“That kind of treatment can make anybody arrogant. I told myself to not lose touch or else I would end up living in a bubble and not understand what real people needed.

“In reality, politicians are just normal people who happen to work in public office,” said Yeo, who said she still struggled with public attention. – March 24, 2018.