Tonight the P104 office said goodbye to our very, very long term “intern”. Koh Wyhow, graduate of National University of Singapore, math sifu and regular office prankster, joined my office as an intern in November 2013. And he never left, until now.
His job as a math lecturer at Taylor’s College, meant that for the last 4 years, he would spend the morning lecturing and then after lunch, hanging out almost every day at our office. He became so comfortable here that he started forwarding all his Lazada items to our office!
A very fast worker with a brilliant mind, he is awkwardly funny and despite his casualness and slacker appearance (he wears sport shorts and slippers most of the time in our office), he is truly serious and committed to make Malaysia better.
We worked on many position and policy papers together. I believe that we share a curiosity and need to try solve all things complex and challenging. I really enjoyed bouncing ideas off him. His thought processing speed and usage of Excel is legendary.
Wyhow did all the Alternative Budget math and fiscal projections for the years 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. He created mathematical models to some of my crazier eureka moment ideas. He calculated data when government stats were opaque and lacking. He computed stuff and found answers that senior and famous university academics have no clue how to do. We also created the initial model on how to compute corruption in government, which later became the basis of the NOW corruption index. He also did complex models for elections. Basically, he was our resident math genius. Every data driven Parliamentary office should strive to have one!
Unassuming and down to earth, Wyhow is truly one of the great unsung heroes of change. After self-learning how to do big data stats and after joining INVOKE big data team, Wyhow has decided to quit lecturing and will be getting a 9 to 5 corporate big data job.
So tonight, we said goodbye to his daily visits. Nevertheless, he has promised to try to join us for weekly badminton sessions and community service nights.
We wish Wyhow all the best in his new job! He joins the ranks of our P104 Jedis.