Michael_Jeyakumar_Devaraj
Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj
Malaysian politician (born 1955)
Dr. Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj (Tamil: மைக்கல் ஜெயகுமார்) (born 28 March 1955) is a Malaysian politician who is currently the chairperson of Socialist Party of Malaysia. He served in the Parliament of Malaysia as Member of Parliament for the Sungai Siput constituency in Perak from 2008 to 2018.[2]
While a prominent member of the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) he was elected to Parliament on the ticket of the People's Justice Party (PKR) in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) opposition coalition.[3] His win in the 2008 general election unseated Samy Vellu; the long-serving President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC).[4] At that point he was only the third MP to win Sungai Siput since independence, his two predecessors being MIC presidents VT Sambanthan and Samy Vellu.[5]Samy Vellu had previously defeated Jeyakumar in Sungai Siput in the 1999 and 2004 general elections.[3] Jeyakumar successfully retained his seat in the 2013 general election.[6] However, he contested under PSM's own ticket and lost his seat in the 2018 general election, garnering just 3.52% of the votes cast and losing his deposit.