Warwick Law School alumnus Wong Chen has won a landslide victory in Malaysia’s historic general election earlier this month. The elections saw the ending of the rule by the Barisan Nasional (BN or National Front) coalition which had been in power since the country’s independence from Britain in 1957.

Wong, a member of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR or People’s Justice Party), won the Subang parliamentary seat with a majority of 92,323 votes, one of the largest majorities in the country. Subang is a new parliamentary constituency created from the last delineation exercise by Malaysia’s Election Commission and Wong had won 104,430 votes over his BN rival, Tan Seong Lim who received 12,077 votes. Wong had previously been a Member of Parliament of the Kelana Jaya parliamentary constituency.

PKR is a component party of the Pakatan Harapan (PH – Alliance of Hope) coalition which toppled the BN government after 61 years. The chairperson of Pakatan Harapan, Mahathir Mohammad, who was Malaysia’s Prime Minister from 1981 to 2003, has now been sworn in as the seventh Prime Minister of Malaysia and at 92 years old, the world’s oldest elected leader.

PKR’s president, Wan Azizah Ismail, has been appointed as Deputy Prime Minister, the first woman to have held the post in Malaysian history. Her husband, Anwar Ibrahim, described as the de facto leader of PKR, who had been imprisoned by the previous regime under what is now widely acknowledged as politically motivated charges, has been given a royal pardon and expected to re-join politics and take over from Mahathir in the coming years.

Mahathir and Anwar have a long and tumultuous relationship as the former sacked and jailed the latter 20 years ago but decided to put aside differences to oust the former Prime Minister, Najib Razak, who is currently being investigated for corruption in Malaysia and other jurisdictions.

Wong joined PKR in 2009 and became the party’s economic policy advisor and is currently the party’s trade and investment chairperson. Graduating from the University of Warwick in 1991 with an LLB Law, Wong Chen has said previously of how his studies at Warwick helped him in his career, ‘as a large part of [his] work now involves public policy and legislation.’

'It is indeed a new and more hopeful Malaysia.'

Wong, commenting on the recent victory, states, 'It is indeed a new and more hopeful Malaysia. The newly elected representatives have a duty to make good the hopes of the people into reality. The urgent work now is to keep politicians honest and true to implementing fundamental democratic reforms and eradicate the culture of corruption.'

In a previous interview with Wong Chen, he spoke about what inspired him to follow this career; ‘I have always stood up for the underdog. The ruthless political crackdown by Dr Mahathir in 1987 left a very deep impression on me. In 1988, I was urged by an international human rights lawyer to go to Warwick with a very specific goal, to study third world constitutional law under Professor Yash Ghai.’

‘The idea was to return to Malaysia and fight the then dictatorship. Instead, after Warwick, I discovered that I had a natural talent for business (my father is a successful businessman). After a short stint doing litigation and some legal aid work, I became a corporate lawyer for 20 years before rediscovering my original calling and eventually becoming a politician.’

Discussing the most challenging parts of his work, Wong Chen highlighted, ‘Dealing with internal party politics. The fact that Malaysia is a barely functioning democracy, means the job carries undue personal risks of persecution and incarceration.’

'His desire to serve the public has deep roots in his experience at Warwick Law School.'

Celine Tan, Associate Professor of Law at Warwick, whose home parliamentary constituency happens to be the Subang constituency congratulates Wong Chen on his stunning victory:

‘We are all very proud of Wong Chen’s achievements. From what I gather from family and friends back home, he is a very highly regarded MP who runs a very professional, open and transparent parliamentary office and political campaign. He is also not afraid to speak his mind and particularly, speaking truth to power, even when his opinions may be unpopular with his own party or supporters.’

‘I am pleased that his desire to serve the public has deep roots in his experience at Warwick Law School. Unfortunately, my postal ballot did not arrive in time for me to vote for him but it looks like he didn’t need my vote.’

Tan, commenting on the election results, states, ‘This is a historic election result and reverberations will be felt on many fronts. This will be a new style of politics for Malaysia and hopefully a break with the legacy of colonial rule which installed a race-based political system that has been damaging not only to Malaysian politics but also for social cohesion in the country.’

‘Internationally, this peaceful transfer of power may also challenge common narratives about democratic transitions in developing countries. And in a world where many countries are retreating inwards parochially and ethnic divisions are being amplified as political tactics, Malaysia demonstrates that political victory can instead be achieved by the unity of multi-cultural communities, not division. There is a politics of hope in the air which has replaced the politics of fear.’

Gobind Singh Deo

It is also worth mentioning that another former Warwick Law School alumnus, lawyer and the Member of Parliament for the Puchong district, Gobind Singh Deo, will be taking the helm of the Communications and Multimedia Ministry within the cabinet of the new Malaysian Government.

It is fantastic to see Warwick Law alumnus making their mark in Malaysia and we wish them all the best in their new roles.