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PETALING JAYA: Growing up in Alor Setar, Kedah, during her formative years, the new mayor of a California town, Jocelyn Yow, never had any contact with politics.
Whether at home or at school, no one talked about it as it was considered a sensitive topic.
In fact, his only memory of Malaysian politics was waving flags during election season and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister.
“That was it. I had no idea about politics, ”he said during an online speaking session organized by the Malaysian Higher Education Association (Heya) in collaboration with the US Embassy.
Times have certainly changed for the 25-year-old woman of Malay and Vietnamese descent, who recently made headlines as the “youngest woman of color to serve as mayor of a California city.”
In the United States, civics and political science are taught in school, Yow said.
“In Malaysia, we just never talk about it. It was taboo.
“I think it’s important to have that conversation. I think it has to start at home, ”he said.
Yow, who was initially surprised that his election became big news, believes it is a big problem due to the lack of diversity in the American political sphere.
“We don’t have many minority mothers and women in office. We have more young people, but it is still a work in progress, ”he said.
Yow’s Malaysian father and Vietnamese mother, who was a refugee, moved to the United States in the 1990s and settled in San Jose, California, where Yow was born.
Her parents returned to Malaysia when she was one year old to care for her sick grandfather.
In 2011, Yow returned to the US with her brother to attend college, and her parents followed them a couple of years later.
Yow’s foray into politics began when he became involved in defense while studying at UC Berkeley.
He served as a district representative for the California State Senate and as an assistant to the United States House of Representatives.
When there was a vacancy on the Eastvale city hall in 2018, Yow’s friends told him to give it a try.
She was elected to the council in 2018 and served as interim mayor before taking office as mayor in December last year.
Yow admitted that while Eastvale might not be the most welcoming to immigrants, it has changed a lot in the last 10 years, and the city has become more diverse.
She admitted that there were those who still saw her as a foreigner, with her accent putting some people off.
“It was difficult for some people, but others relate through the human aspect and the sharing of personal stories.
“The reality is that although many people are white, their families were immigrants and now they have unfortunate experiences similar to those of immigrants,” he said.
According to comments, even those with different ideologies voted for her, Yow said.
“They wanted someone who was willing to listen. They said the leaders and elected officials were not listening to them and decided to vote for me. “
As mayor, Yow said her seven-month-old son would fuel her passion for public service.
“I want to make sure I leave the city better than it was,” he said.
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