Wanita Umno to fight for dignity of Malays

Shahrizat pledged that the wing will return to its original role as the backbone of the party, providing the logistical support during general elections, and work to register new voters.

KUALA LUMPUR: Wanita Umno Chief Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, in a fiery speech, pledged that her wing takes heart from Umno President and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s policy speech on Thursday, calling for solidarity, and will fight together with the Youth and Puteri wings to uphold the dignity of the Malays and ensure that they still have a place in the country.

She advised Wanita Umno not to get involved in business but focus on the political issues of the day and not worry too much about positions in party and government. “If it comes, it comes,” she said.

Shahrizat pledged that the wing will return to its original role as the backbone of the party, providing the logistical support during general elections, and work to register new voters, a reminder that the wing had fallen by the wayside during the last general elections, mainly over bickering over positions and not being fielded as candidates.

She referred to 300,000 signatures collected during a signature campaign against Najib’s pledge to abolish the Sedition Act 1948. “We will get those who signed, if they are not registered, to register as voters,” she said on the aborted campaign to collect one million signatures.

Sharizat pledged that her wing would not compromise on the Federal Constitution, the “Social Contract”, the position of the sultans, Islam, Article 153 of the Federal Constitution, the Malay language, Islam, Malay reserves, and the rights of the Orang Asal in Sabah and Sarawak. She did not mention the Orang Asli in the peninsula.

“We also need to be multilingual,” said Sharizat. “We should learn Tamil, Mandarin and Arab.”

“The Attorney General should be given power to exercise oversight on the replacement of Malay reserve land which has been lost (through degazetting). We don’t know what the Pakatan Rakyat-ruled states are doing on Malay reserves.”

She recalled that Wanita was among the first to call for the Sedition Act to be retained.

“We were proceeding with the campaign to collect one million signatures to oppose Najib’s pledge to abolish the Sedition Act,” said Shahrizat. “Thankfully, Najib heard us and declared on Thursday that the Sedition Act will not only be retained but strengthened.”