Azalina ‘shooting off mouth’ on gender issue, says Zuraida

Minister’s figures at the Bakti AGM were primed to confuse the public by citing something that was “syiok sendiri” but in fact misleading.

KUALA LUMPUR: The push for more women in decision-making roles is a joint responsibility, said Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin in a statement. “There’s no point trying to frame the Opposition as having fewer numbers of women in Parliament.”

“The ratio of the ruling party’s MPs to the Opposition is 3:2.”

In Opposition ruled states, added Zuraida who is also Wanita PKR chief, Penang has two women MPs, one woman senator, five women state representatives out of 30 (16.66 per cent), and eight women councillors out of 48 (16.6 per cent); Selangor has two women MPs, 15 state representatives out of 43 (34.88 per cent), and 25 per cent women councillors; Kelantan has one woman MP and three women state representatives.

These figures clearly show that the Opposition has a better sense of gender equality than Barisan Nasional, argued the MP. “In Sarawak, Keadilan will be fielding six women candidates. Hopefully, all will win in the upcoming state election.”

She gave these statistics when commenting on those given by Azalina Othman Said, a minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, who pointed out that 14 out of the ruling BN’s 133 MPs were women. “That works out to 10.5 per cent of women’s participation from BN,” Zuraida noted Azalina as saying. “Parliament has 222 MPs, out of which 133 or 60 per cent are from BN.”

Azalina also compared this number to the Opposition, where out of 89 MPs, 10 were women, said Zuraida. “For her information, the Opposition has a higher percentage of women in Parliament at 11.2 per cent.”

She expressed the hope that Azalina would not simply “shoot off her mouth again” to curry favour with the Prime Minister or his wife, Rosmah Mansor.

Azalina’s speech, she alleged, made during the opening of the 39th AGM of the Welfare Association of Wives of Ministers and Deputy Ministers’ (Bakti), was primed to confuse the public by citing figures that were “syiok sendiri” but were in fact misleading.

That said, she continued, there were still many unanswered questions regarding Bakti, specifically the huge amount of funding allocated by the Prime Minister’s office to it, and its expenditures.

Perhaps, she summed up, Azalina should look into this issue instead with urgency.