INTERVIEW | The recent May 9 polls unexpectedly propelled several rookie politicians right into the august halls of the Dewan Rakyat.

Tomorrow, during the first sitting of 14th Parliament, a radically changed bench of lawmakers will be taking oath as MPs for the first time – endorsed by a largely youthful and restless voter bank that longed for a change of government.

DAP’s doctor-turned-politician Bandar Kuching MP, Dr Kelvin Yii, is probably the archetype of the new legislative brigade that the rakyat had voted for – a driven go-getter with plenty of gumption.

Yii has none of the usual pretension that come with being a politician, although he was part of the long agitation which had called for change, or ‘ubah’ in DAP parlance.

Like a seasoned politician on the campaign trail, Yii had raised many issues that were relevant not just to voters in Sarawak but the whole of Malaysia.

Each time he had uttered kleptocracy and GST on the ceramah stage, the chorus from the fields pitched to a crescendo. And so too when he mentioned the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) or the Petroleum Development Act 1974 (PDA).

The new doctor in the august house knows, however, that the stump will be a far cry from the Dewan Rakyat...