The ‘red’ doctor

Humble giant-killing politician: Dr Jeyakumar comes from an illustrious medical family which includes his surgeon father Datuk Seri Dr T. Devaraj – seen here with his mother Elizabeth Devaraj – but chose to dedicate his life to serving the people.

HE could have easily been a rich specialist with a luxurious lifestyle, but Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj instead chose the socialist path.

For Dr Jeyakumar, this goes back to his upbringing where he was brought up with the concept of stewardship.

“Only a part of what you are given by God is meant for you. A lot of it is meant for others, society and the poor. That’s the way to live. I don’t think I have suffered very much,” he says.

His father Datuk Seri Dr T.Devaraj is a pioneering surgeon known for his philanthropic work, including helping to establish a community Hospice service in Penang.

Last year, Dr Jeyakumar declared that he had a semi-detached house worth about RM150,000, five cars that are altogether worth about RM59,000, savings of about RM55,000, shares worth about RM48,200, EPF savings of RM120,000 and RM10,884 from the cash bonus value of insurance policies.

This might seem like peanuts compared to the riches accumulated by some politicians and businessmen, but Dr Jeyakumar has no regrets about his life choices.

“I think I would be unhappy in a bungalow with a swimming pool when there is so much poverty in the world. It is obscene to be so rich when there are so many people in need.

“I think I am happy with what I have done with my life,” says Dr Jeyakumar, who has cited Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara as one of his role models.

Dr Jeyakumar believes that there is a big global battle going on ideologically, with the advent of Trump and other right-wing populist leaders. He feels that there is a danger that the welfare state will be eroded with the top 0.01% being too powerful.

In many countries, specifically the United States, the governments have been able to change their laws to maximise their profits and pay less tax, leading to reduction in government income to maintain their welfare programmes.

As seen in the United States, he says, “people get angry, with some buying into xenophobic ideas. It’s a battle between Trump-type ideas or Bernie Sanders’. The centre cannot hold.”

Not to mention that socialism in Malaysia has always been confused with communism. In 2011, Dr Jeyakumar and five other Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) leaders were wrongfully arrested and detained under the Emergency Ordinance for possesion of subversive documents, which were really only their party materials and T-shirts.

The EO6 group, as they were dubbed, later sued the government and 81 other respondents for the wrongful arrest and false imprisonment, for which they obtained a consent settlement in 2013.

When asked if PSM and socialism appealed largely to Indians, Dr Jeyakumar says this was not true. In Perak, for example, quite a lot of Chinese farmers were with them as they took up their issues, he says.

He adds that Malays are increasingly supporting PSM – about 30% of their members are young Malays who are not happy with the other political parties.

“We began largely as an Indian group because we worked in the estates and squatter areas. That was the reason it started that way but increasingly, PSM is becoming multiracial,” he says.