CALONKINI | For many middle-class Malaysians, the first realisation that something is not right in the country may come relatively late in life.

However, for lawyer and DAP legal bureau secretary Michelle Ng, it came in the form of many unpleasant goodbyes with friends, and her own parent’s attempts to migrate to New Zealand when she was just 12.

Although her parents’ migration plans didn’t materialise, they later encouraged her to remain in the UK after she finished reading law at London School of Economics.

Instead, Ng decided to return to Malaysia following her bar examination in 2013. She became a lawyer in 2014, and joined DAP the following year.

She took on a more active role in the party when DAP found itself in need of more lawyers, so she was roped in to spend her after hours researching electoral discrepancies in Kuala Kubu Baru, and Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua’s malfeasance suit against Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

In the middle of last year, Ng left her litigation job to join DAP legal bureau chief Gobind Singh Deo’s law firm, and was also involved in drafting and gathering feedback on parts of Pakatan Harapan’s manifesto pertaining to legal reform.

Now 28, she is being considered for candidacy in a Selangor state seat, but a decision on whether to field her has yet to be reached.

This is her story in her own words.

WHEN I WAS 12, I remember my parents taking us on a holiday to New Zealand. What was very curious about that holiday was that my dad started visiting banks to have...