Ageing society catches up with MCA women’s wing

 

Wanita MCA leader Wong You Fong (centre) with central committee members at the Wanita annual meeting today. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Wanita MCA, faced with an ageing problem, has urged its members to urgently and aggressively recruit new members from among the younger generation.

Wanita MCA chief Wong You Fong said she would lead the wing in implementing three main plans including creating a talent pool by identifying, training and continuously evaluating the relevant talents.

“This is to ensure that they become MCA’s new force, becoming candidates or strategists and so on, and help the party to field more than 30% credible female candidates in the next general election,” she said in her policy speech at the Wanita MCA annual meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.

Wong was elected Wanita MCA chief at the party elections last month, succeeding Heng Seai Kie.

Wong said Wanita MCA, should also enhance its use of social media, making it a core driving force because the changing times have rendered traditional door-to-door visits ineffective.

“Pakatan Harapan is seen to be focusing on using Facebook while Perikatan Nasional is on TikTok. Barisan Nasional cannot solely rely on house visits or Jalinan Rakyat or JR Plus programmes.

“Publicity methods must be in line with the changing times, (we must) constantly seek innovation and better-prepared transformations to face the general election,” she added.

The Wanita MCA and the MCA Youth annual meetings were held today ahead of the MCA conference tomorrow.

MCA secretary-general Chong Sin Woon urged the new Wanita MCA central committee to help the party to regain the support of Chinese voters and encourage them to return to mainstream politics in the battle for fair and egalitarian treatment of Malaysians.

Calling it “a very arduous task”, he called on Wanita MCA leaders to set the goal as a priority task.

He said previous Wanita MCA leaders had adhered to their posts and persisted to the end in confronting by-elections, state elections and the general election despite the party’s “very difficult situation for more than 10 years”.

Seven resolutions were adopted at the Wanita MCA meeting, among which was a call for incentives for employers whose employees take maternity leave of 98 days.

Wanita MCA was urged to be more active in recruiting members among the youth and to boost the participation rate of women in politics, including those from professional groups. - FMT