About Steven Sim

Jalan Teruih, anak Malaysia!

I’m Steven Sim Chee Keong, a proud Penangite born and bred in the town of Bukit Mertajam – a seat I am proud to serve as Member of Parliament since 2013. In 2022, I was also appointed as the Deputy Minister of Finance II under the administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

I have been a member of the Democratic Action Party (DAP) since 2005 and currently serve as the National Organising Secretary. I am also part of the governing board of Penang Institute, a leading public policy think tank based in Penang, Malaysia.

My foray into government started in 2007 when I took on the role as chief-of-staff for the Penang State Executive Councillor (EXCO) of Youth and Sports. At the same time, I took an active interest in politics and volunteered at the office of YB Chong Eng, who was the Bukit Mertajam Member of Parliament. Under YB Chong Eng’s dedicated mentorship, my responsibilities within the office grew and my interest in politics and government continued to flourish.

I was appointed a local government councillor of the Seberang Perai Municipal Council in 2011, one of the largest municipal councils in the country, which I served up till standing for the general elections in 2013 for the Bukit Mertajam parliamentary seat. In 2012, I was honoured as one of the Young Global Leaders of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. During the previous administration of Pakatan Harapan, I was entrusted with the position of the Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports.

I am proud to be an alumni of SK Stowell Bukit Mertajam and Bukit Mertajam High School (HSBM). After graduating from Universiti Malaya with a degree in computer science, I continued to pursue my interest areas of sustainable development, as well as gender and social justice. Those interests bloomed into participatory politics, literature, and philosophical ideology in the years after. In 2020, I completed my master’s degree in Sustainable Development in Jeffrey Sachs Centre, Sunway University under the guidance of renowned development economists, Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Professor Woo Wing Thye.

As an ardent reader and aspiring writer, I have published several books along the journey of my political career: The Audacity to Think: An Invitation to Rethink Politics (2012); Being Malaysia (2018), an anthology of Malay poems; Dalam Salju Ada Bunga (2018); and a contemporary socio-political critique of the Malay classic Hikayat Hang Tuah, Hang Tuah: Adiwira Bangsa (2021). My intentions of writing these books are simple – to bring hope and inspiration to our future generations, and I welcome your thoughts on my books too.