‘PM open to fielding more women in GE14’

S’wak minister: This depends on component parties

KUCHING: The Prime Minister is open to the suggestion for Barisan Nasional to field more women candidates in the general election but this will depend on nominations from the component parties, said a Sarawakian minister.

Sarawak Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said this following a meeting with Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

Najib, who is also Barisan chairman, had met women representatives of component parties in Sabah and Sarawak at the Putra World Trade Centre.

Fatimah, who is from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB), said there was a need for more women representation in politics, considering the slightly higher percentage of women voters in the country.

“Women are on par with their male counterparts in many fields and sectors, contributing significantly to nation building,” she said.

“Datuk Seri was receptive to our ideas and suggestions. We hope he will consider fielding more women candidates in the elections,” she said after a prize presentation ceremony at the International Conference on Borneo Book Publishing and Borneo Book Fair 2017 here yesterday.

Other matters raised during the meeting, she said, included welfare, education, women empowerment and local issues in the various constituencies.

Barisan parties, said Fatimah, needed to put in serious work to close the gender gap, adding that stronger female representation in the legisla ture and the Cabinet was necessary to support policies and reforms for women empowerment.

“Increasing women representation in politics and calling for more women candidates is a subject always raised in Barisan meetings.

“Based on the numbers, we can see that the percentage of women in Cabinet and legislative representation is relatively small,” she said.

According to the InterParliamentary Union, Malaysia numbers 156th out of 190 countries in terms of women representation in Parliament. The number of elected women representatives increased from 1.9% in 1955 to 11.3% in 2008.

Fatimah also said the women wings of all Barisan component parties in Sarawak had promised strong cooperation to ensure a handsome victory in the elections.