yacob was a member of the country's governing (pap), she was the ninth speaker of parliament, from january 2013 to august 2017. she was a member of parliament (mp) representing jurong group representation constituency between 2001 and 2015, and marsiling-yew tee group representation constituency between 2015 and 2017. on 7 august 2017, she resigned from her positions as speaker and mp, and from her membership in the pap, to stand as a candidate for the 2017 singapore presidential election.