Kho Teck Wan, 41, was clad in her usual T-shirt and jeans as she slugged a back pack containing her laptop around. A potential candidate for Kuching parliamentary constituency, Kho, Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Women’s Chief is ready to take on whatever is coming her way.
Sensible, pretty and down to earth Kho is always seen wearing a smiling face on her spotless face devoid of any makeup.
The second child of five siblings, Kho whose father was a councillor and mother a businesswoman, both of whom are retired had long been involved in politics. Kho who is single, said both parents were members of SUPP Pending branch back then. So it was no surprise to her what political work was all about.
Her parents had helped Datuk Song Swee Guan, former Kuching MP, Padungan State Assemblyman, Mayor for Kuching City South and DUN Speaker, former SUPP Secretary-General, Datuk Sim Kheng Hui and Batu Lintang, Chan Seng Khai to campaign. During all these campaigning, a young Kho was asked to tag along to help in ways she could.
After coming back from the United States where she worked for the last 10 years due to family pressure, Kho is now working as an IT consultant with Hitachi.
Successful in her career, Kho was asked by family members to help out with SUPP when she returned from USA. She officially joined SUPP Pending branch in 2011.
“It seems to be a natural thing for me to be in this party. All my family members and the people I hang out with are in SUPP. The party has a rich history, something we are all proud of,” she said smiling.
Kho was then the Organising Secretary in the Women’s Section and Assistant Publicity Secretary for the main Pending Branch committee. During the party’s Triennial Delegates Conference (TDC) last year Kho was elected as Women Central Chief which she felt was a huge responsibility.
Her family members and party leaders encouraged her by saying she could do it. Taking it as a challenge, Kho said she wanted to make remarkable changes which will uplift women’s rights and their importance in today’s society. She is confident that with her family, friends and party members who support her, she could make it.
Her first aim is to build up the strength of the women members in the party, to recruit women members and make them be more politically involved.
“Women tend to take a back step politically but we have the strength, the intelligence to do it. There are more female voters than male in Sarawak. We can change things for the better. In many ways, we can do as well as the men but we have an additional advantage: we tend to have a more caring tender approach,” she said, adding that women are actually the pillars in any family.
Despite some women being home-keepers, Kho said that should not put them off to do more. She said some choose to stay at home, making a huge sacrifice to take care of their husbands and children despite having an education while some felt that it is better to have their children growing without their mothers around.
“Whatever, it is, I want them to know the importance of technology and not to miss out in what is happening around them. Being in the IT career, I have the know-how and to educate these women, even the elderly, the basic knowledge of IT. They should not be left behind and this is something that cannot be avoided as hand phones and gadgets are part of our lifestyles now,” she said.
In Sarawak, our Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg is emphasising on the advancement of technology so that we can be on par with the rest of the world.
“Thus it is important for us to know and not to be left behind,” she added. Kho’s other plans are to unite SUPP women members in all corners of Sarawak. She has made plans to go to the north and central regions to visit all the branches and plan a state-wide programme. Already in the pipeline is the lantern festival. Talking on the potential candidate for Kuching parliamentary constituency, Kho said she has no idea who the candidate might be. In the last parliamentary election, her cousin, Tan Kai stood against Chong Chieng Jen from DAP where he lost to Chong.
Tipped to be one of the potential candidates for Kuching parliamentary constituency, Kho said if nominated, she will definitely do her best. In Kuching, she said she was sad that there was no opportunity or development since the opposition took over.
“I can only look with envy at other cities. We are the capital city and yet, compared to DBKU, we failed to develop. It is not that we do not have the talent, instead we are left behind. Thus the brain drain as the younger generation could not find the opportunity to get good paying jobs after graduating. Even a simple thing like a night market is lacking in Kuching to attract tourists,” she pointed out.
She said even in the rural areas, there is vast development with big scale farming and exporting of agricultural produces.
“In the city, we should emphasis on service-oriented jobs, be it medical or other consultancy jobs. I am sure with better opportunity, the younger generation would return back to Sarawak,” she said.
On her party, Kho admitted that there is a lack of younger generation joining the party especially those in their 20s. She said it is not only SUPP facing that problem but all political parties.
“I think this age group is either studying or working to build up their careers thus their lack of interest in politics. I encourage the young to join us, even the Bumiputeras. We are a multi-racial Sarawak-based party, the earliest in fact as we were already there before the formation of Malaysia. We have a rich history and we will continue to fight on for all Sarawakians. SUPP will always fight for Sarawak’s autonomy.”
Urging the voters to vote wisely this coming election, Kho said it was important that the voters go for Sarawak based parties.
“Only we will take care of ourselves to the best of our ability,” she added.
