• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • RSS
  • Archives
  • Subscribe
The Nut Graph

The Nut Graph

Making Sense of Politics & Pop Culture

  • Projects
    • MP Watch
    • Found in Conversation
  • Current Issues
    • 6 Words
    • Commentary
    • Features
    • Found in Quotation
    • News
  • Columns
  • Interviews
    • Exclusives
    • Found in Malaysia
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Pictures
    • Videos
  • Corrections
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Vault
    • Found in Translation

Teo Nie Ching (Serdang)

[get_post_meta single=1 key="byline"] | March 2, 2010 2 Comments

SERDANG Member of Parliament (MP) Teo Nie Ching’s response to the MP Watch: Eye on Parliament project, which asks all 222 MPs six questions.


(Source: parlimen.gov.my)
Name: Teo Nie Ching
Constituency:
Serdang
Party:
DAP (Opposition)

Years as MP: Since 2008
Government post:
None

Party position:
National publicity assistant secretary

Membership of any parliamentary committee or caucus:
Asean Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus member  
Women’s Caucus

Blog/website: www.teonieching.com


1

Would you support the abolition/review of the Internal Security Act (ISA), in particular the provision that allows for detention without trial? Why or why not?

Definitely yes! Detention without trial violates the fundamental principles of human rights and justice. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. But under the ISA you are guilty if the home minister feels so.

[The ISA] is also a violation of the doctrine of separation of power. The home minister as the executive cannot and should not be allowed to confer on himself [or herself] such judicial power.

I visited the Kamunting Detention Camp after I was elected. Some of the detainees had been detained there for more than seven years without trial. They had no idea when they would be released. Even a rapist or murderer [has some] certainty about his or her judgement. What type of [criminal] (in the case of ISA, as yet unproven as well) deserves such mental torture? And don’t forget, the ISA does not only punish the detainees, but also tortures their family and friends.

2 Do you think Malaysia should be a secular or an Islamic state? Why?

Malaysia is definitely a secular state and should remain so. At the same time, Islam is our official religion. The Federal Constitution is very clear on this. For decades, this question was never an issue, and I hope this question will not be an issue anymore.  

3 How do you define your role as an elected MP? Does Parliament provide you with the necessary infrastructure and support to fulfill your role?

I am a policymaker. I am also [tasked with] speaking up for the people, to let their voice and views be heard in Parliament.

[As for Parliamentary resources and support], definitely no. I have more than 97,000 voters in my constituency. I definitely need help to serve the rakyat. But Parliament does not provide funding for me to engage assistants.

Besides, as a policymaker, we need to debate and discuss bills. But without proper research, our knowledge on certain issues will be very limited. Parliamentarians need to employ researchers to improve the standard of our debates.   

4 Would you support a Freedom of Information Act? Why or why not?

Of course I would. Freedom of information is important so that the rakyat can make informed decisions. Besides, freedom of information is an important foundation for transparency.  

We want freedom of information, but that does not mean we want absolute freedom of access to information. Certain information pertaining to national security and defence should not be disclosed to the public unnecessarily.

However, the mindset of the bureaucracy must change. Currently, everything is “rahsia” unless stated otherwise. To me, everything should be accessible unless categorised otherwise. And when a minister or civil servant wants to categorise certain information as “rahsia”, he or she must justify the need to do so. Currently, the Official Secrets Act is being abused to cover the government’s mistakes or wrongdoings.

5 If there was one thing you could do to strengthen parliamentary democracy in Malaysia, what would it be?

Reform the election system. Before 3 March 2008, the Barisan Nasional (BN) was always the ruling party and has had a two-thirds majority in Parliament since 1957, with the exception of 1969. But it has not always had two-thirds of the votes. 

In 1999, Barisan Alternatif got 42.39% of the votes but only 23.31% of the seats. In 2004, the BN won 63.85% of the votes but got 90.87% of the seats. That’s a huge difference. Also in 2008, the BN only got 51.5% of the votes and 63.06% of the seats. Obviously with our current system, seats do not represent the percentage of votes in the elections.

Only when elections are clean and fair can Malaysians be real [determinants] of their own destiny and expect holders of public office to act with accountability, and effectively.

6 Do you believe in separation of powers between the government, Parliament and judiciary? Why or why not?

Yes, this system works quite well in other countries.

It doesn’t work in Malaysia, simply because we have had one coalition ruling the nation since Independence. I believe things will improve after a real two-party system is established. favicon

For other MP responses, see Full MP list

The Nut Graph needs your support  
Please take our five-minute 
reader survey

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related Stories

Filed Under: MP Watch Tagged With: member of Parliament, MP Watch, serdang, Teo Nie Ching

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. datoseri says

    March 2, 2010 at 4:30 pm

    Sounds like an exceptionally sincerely, honest, and liberal lady who fights hard and stands up for the rights of the people (regardless of their ethnicity).

    I am amazed by her capability. She has changed our perception of the Chinese [Malaysian] people (and specifically the so-called “chauvinistic” DAP) being ultra and chauvinist as painted by Umno and Utusan all these years.

  2. Siew Kok Chung says

    February 15, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    Dear Ms. Teo,

    We represent the citizens in Taman Muhibbah. We will not allow our field / playground to become a car park for own benefits. We complained once previously, but the same issue is happening again.

    MPSJ informed us that there is a permit for the restaurants. We do not know who gave the permit to the restaurants, but we just know that MCA is telling us that the permit is from DAP for the restaurants.

    Please be informed that we are very sensitive to this issue, election is coming so soon, we know that we can’t control all the people here, but we will make sure DAP will not win most of the vote in Taman Muhibbah, if the issue can’t be solved immediately.

    We hope action can be taken immediately.

    Thank you & best regards,

    Siew KC

Primary Sidebar

Search

Twitter

My Tweets

Recent Comments

  • Wave33 on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Adam on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • PSTan on The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Andre Lai on The Nut Graph stops publication

Recent News

  • The Nut Graph stops publication
  • Nasihat tentang sepupu yang mengganggu perasaan
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: The Sunni-Shia split and the answer to Muslim unity
  • Why Malaysia needs the national unity bills
  • Challenging government in the digital age: Lessons from Kidex
  • Najib’s failure
  • Babi, anjing, pondan: Jijik orang Islam Malaysia
  • Kidex and the law – What the government’s not telling you
  • Beyond Dyana Sofya
  • Uncommon Sense with Wong Chin Huat: Does Malaysia need hate speech laws?

Tags

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi Anwar Ibrahim Barisan Nasional BN Bukit Selambau by-election dap Deborah Loh Ding Jo-Ann Election Commission elections Found in Malaysia Found in Quotation Gan Pei Ling government high court Hishammuddin Hussein ISA islam Jacqueline Ann Surin Khairy Jamaluddin KW Mak Lim Guan Eng Malaysia MCA Menteri Besar MP Watch Muhyiddin Yassin muslim Najib Razak Pakatan Rakyat Parliament Parti Keadilan Rakyat pas Penang Perak PKR police politics prime minister Selangor Shanon Shah Umno Wong Chin Huat Zedeck Siew

Footer

  • About The Nut Graph
  • Who Are We?
  • Our Contributors
  • Past Contributors
  • Guest Contributors
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments & Columns
  • Copyright Policy
  • Web Accessibility Policy
  • Privacy Policy
The Nut Graph

© 2022 The Nut Graph

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.