Young Tsinoy picked as candidate for British Parliament

A 25-year-old British Filipino-Chinese will be the youngest candidate to join the British Parliament election this year.

This was after Steven Dominique Cheung was selected by Liberal Democrats to stand at the 2015 General Election in Walthamstow, East London.

The Hong Kong-born Cheung, whose mother is a Filipino, was the first and youngest East Asian candidate to run for European Parliament in 2009.

Cheung was appointed as the UK Youth Ambassador to the G8/G20 in 2010, and the Olympic Ambassador, Olympic Legacy Ambassador, Torch Bearer and Young Mayor of the Olympic Village at the London 2012 Olympics Games.

During his time at City and Islington College, he founded the Islington Parliamentary Youth Forum and was elected as the Student Union President and the youngest governor of the college.

He was also an associate with the Lloyds Banking group and a regular contributor at a radio program.

Cheung's efforts in youth leadership was recognized in 2009 when he received the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Award for Inspirational Young People.

A report on South China Morning Post said Cheung's parents worked as a dim sum chef and part-time cleaner and moved to the UK in 2002.

He told the website that his experiences with racial discrimination made him take interest in public affairs, and hopes to have "the voices of Chinese and other ethnic minorities heard in politics."

"It's time to break the silence and I want to take the lead by taking part in mainstream politics in the UK," said Cheung, who joined the Liberal Democrats last year to run for parliament. —Rie Takumi/KBK, GMA News