KAMPAR, April 26 — A few years ago, university student KS Bawani became famous after a video of her being repeatedly told to "listen, listen, listen” by Sharifah Zohra Jabeen during a forum went viral.

Back then, she was castigated for attempting to speak out in favour of free education.

Fast forward to 2018, and Bawani now wants the people of Malim Nawar to listen to what she has to offer.

Hailing from Air Kuning, Tapah, the PSM candidate will be running for the Malim Nawar state seat for the first time.

The 32-year-old lawyer has been involved in many grassroots non-governmental movements and has been involved in activism since her university days.

She is widely known for championing free education, the urban poor and the welfare of farmers.

Despite being an election novice, Bawani said that she is not intimidated by politics as she had her baptism of fire back in university.

"I gained valuable experience contesting my university elections. Even there, you can see a lot of ‘dirty politics’,” she told Malay Mail in a recent interview.

"I was labelled a communist and some even said I wanted to start a communist revolution in the university. I don’t think there will be much different out here,” added Bawani.

She said she joined PSM as she shares the party’s ideology. 

"In 2006, I attended one of PSM’s congress in Seremban. I was still a student then and I went as an observer.

"PSM is different from other political parties. There is no hierarchy and the meeting was a roundtable. They fight for issues like minimum wage, free education, land and housing.

"They also welcome ideas and opinions from the audience, which I don’t see in any other political party. These are the things that attracted me to join the party,” she said.

After obtaining a degree in Psychology from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2008, Bawani started off as a part-time activist for the party at its headquarters in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

The following year, she decided to be a full-time PSM staff after her plan to pursue postgraduate studies in Clinical Psychology fell through.

After working for the party for almost three years, Bawani realised that it has been difficult for the party to get lawyers to bring some cases to court.

That is when she decided to read law. She enrolled in Universiti Utara Malaysia in September 2011 and was called to the Bar in 2016.

Bawani started working for the people of Malim Nawar in 2014 and opened the PSM service centre here in the following year.

Already providing free legal service to farmers and fish breeders here over land eviction matters, she said she also fights for minimum wage and contracts.

Bawani said she will focus on improving the transportation service here, including reviving the abandon KTM station and improving the infrastructure.

When asked what differentiates her from the other candidates, Bawani said that she tackles a problem at the grassroots level instead of finding a temporary solution.

"For example, the issue of land disputes does not merely lie with the authorities or the third parties like developers, but in the land reform policy.

"We don’t have a standard operating procedure and such cases do not go to trial when the developers acquire the land from the authorities,” she said.

"This is what’s lacking in our law and this is what should be rectified so that future generations will not be affected by land issues,” said Bawani.

Malim Nawar is home to about 25,000 voters, of which 71 per cent are Chinese, 20 per cent Malays, 8 per cent Indians and 1 per cent Orang Asli.

With an expected four-cornered fight between MCA, DAP, PAS and PSM, the odds for Bawani winning the seat will be greatly reduced, but she believes that she has a good chance of winning if the votes are cast based on the candidate’s performance, and not their flags.