Yusmadi Yusoff

Yusmadi is a legal practitioner by profession. He specializes in public interest litigation and criminal defense cases. He has been involved as a leading counsel and co-counsel in many high-profile civil and criminal cases. Some of the renowned cases that were handled by him involved politicians, top singers and activists namely Al-Maunah case, Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim and Rock Band Search, force eviction cases, Reformasi activists. He is also active in defending cases assigned by YBGK (National Legal Aid Foundation).[3] His pride and joy, Fahda Nur & Yusmadi[4] is a boutique law firm which focuses on civil law, commercial, crime, human rights, public interests and Islamic law.

He established the RIGHTS Foundation.[5] He is the founder and chairman of the non-profit organization RIGHTS Foundation which promotes constructive engagement and interaction on the issues of Governance, Human Rights and Social Justice in the region through forums, seminars, advocacy work, dialogues and publications. RIGHTS focal points consist of The Idea of RIGHTS, The Institution of RIGHTS and RIGHTS Hidden Hands.[5]

Yusmadi was elected as the Member of Parliament for Balik Pulau, Penang during the Malaysia General Election in 2008. He broke the record by winning the seat for the first time ever since 1999 for PKR with the majority of 708 votes against Norraesah Binti Mohamad (UMNO).[6] Nevertheless, during the Malaysia General Election in 2013, he was not contested to focus on his non-profit organizations and human rights activities, as well as to make way for Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik, who was eventually unsuccessful in winning the seat[7]

During his tenure as the Member of Parliament, he was appointed by His Majesty the King as the Member of the Parliamentary Committee for Anti-Corruption under the umbrella of Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).[8] He also became an active spokesperson who championed the issues that were related to education and international affairs. He was appointed to many inter-parliamentarian committees including the Treasurer for Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU Malaysia), Secretary for ASEAN Inter Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), the Malaysia-European Union Caucus, the Malaysia-South Korea Caucus and Malaysia-Indonesia Caucus.

Senator Yusmadi Yusoff was appointed as the chairman of the Senate Reform Working Committee. The appointment was made unanimous by all senators in the Dewan Negara on 20 December 2018. The former Balik Pulau MP was the senator of the Senate in August. The working committee was set up to improve the institution. the establishment of a discussion between the members of the committee and the consent of the Senate President Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran. Among the matters to be proposed for the Senate reform is to raise the independence of the Senate as provided by the Constitution and to educate the public on the function of the institution. The Senate Reform Working Committee is capable of uniting members of Dewan Negara with different political ideologies to achieve the bigger interest of national development.

Akademi Rakyat[9] was inspired by the successful of Yayasan Anda (spearheaded by Dato Seri’ Anwar Ibrahim). Akademi Rakyat was established in 2012 and designed to empower the suburban community in Balik Pulau.[10] It was catered to people who did not possess the luxury to seek knowledge as he believes that "knowledge is power, information is liberating, and education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family”. Akademi Rakyat was equipped with the latest educational facilities, reference books and comfortable learning places.

He was elected as the fellow for Institute for Policy Research[11] from 2006 until 2008. The Institute for Policy Research was formed by Dato Seri’ Anwar Ibrahim in 1985. This organization was aimed to the cause of cultural revivalism, the construction of a civil society and the promotion of interaction among Southeast Asian countries, between the region and the rest of the world.