Teresa Kok Suh Sim (Chinese: 郭素沁, born 31 March 1964) is a Member of Parliament from the Democratic Action Party.
Kok is a member of the Hakka clan and her ancestors were from Huizhou, Guang Tong Province, China.
She speaks Bahasa Malaysia, English and Chinese fluently.
Kok was political secretary to Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang from 1990 - 1995.
In 1995 she contested the Ipoh Barat Parliamentary seat on a DAP ticket but was defeated by the MCA candidate.
Kok resigned as political secretary after that to further her studies.
She earned her first degree from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), graduating in the School of Communication, and; a second degree from UM in political science, and a master of philosophy. Her thesis was on UMNO, titled “Factionalism in Umno During Dr Mahathir’s Era (1981 - 2001)“.
In the 1999 General Elections, Kok won in the Dewan Rakyat (Lower House) seat of Seputeh in Kuala Lumpur with a majority of 5,200 and was re-elected in 2004 with a majority of 11,503, the largest winning margin among the 13 elected DAP MPs. Admission to the Upper House (Senate) is through Executive appointments.
She is the DAP Publicity Secretary, the National Secretary of DAP Wanita (the women’s wing of the DAP) and a member of the DAP Disciplinary Committee. In Parliament, she was a member of the Select Committee on Review of Penal Code & Criminal Procedure Code.
Kok is the Secretary of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC). She was an active lobbyist for Burmese democracy and human rights since 1996 when she was the Coordinator of Political Leaders Network Promoting Democracy in Burma (PD Burma) in Southeast Asian region.
In 2004 Kok published a book,琴声剑影, from a collection of articles she wrote for the then Chinese daily Sin Chew Jit Poh. She continues to write a weekly column for the Chinese daily Sin Chew.
Kok is a devoted Catholic.
She can be contacted at tel no: 03- 7983 6768, fax no: 03- 7983 7576, email: teresakok@yahoo.com.my .
Her office address is: 28-3A, 4th floor, Sri Desa Entrepreneur’s Park, Jalan 1/116B, Off Jalan Kuchai Lama. 58200 Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia.
