Kak Wan, why you so like that one?

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail recently made a very important decision for the future of every family unit in our beloved Malaysia.

She has decided to merge Father's Day and Mother's Day into a single celebration, which will be called Parents' Day.

Brilliant! Simply brilliant!

Thanks to Kak Wan, now we do not have to spend money on lunch, dinner and gifts for two separate occasions – we can take both our parents out for a single celebration on the first Sunday of July!

Now, why the heck did no other previous minister think of this?

In fact, I think Kak Wan should not stop at merging these two celebrations. While she’s at it, I think she should also consider merging Children’s Day, Grandparent’s Day and Valentine’s Day and then combining it with Parents' Day – we can all call it Happy Family Day!

How does that sound?

Oh dear. Looks like Pakatan Harapan has found its own Ahmad Maslan. In case you have forgotten the infamous guy, he is the BN ex-MP who recommended the people to cook zero-GST fried rice and take up more than one job to cope with the rising cost of living.

And just like him, today we have a qualified medical professional as a minister who is trying to improve the state of our country and its people by doing something totally useless and insignificant.

Clearly not practising her profession has affected her professionalism. Or perhaps she is desperate to be seen doing something, apart from being the shadow of her husband?

Seriously Kak Wan, have you got nothing better to do?

The fact is, after years of chanting “Ubah!”, the people chose Pakatan Harapan to bring in the winds of change. God knows the rakyat are hoping for change and improvement, not only in our policies but also in the mindset of our leaders.

Sadly, from time to time, our new batch of elected politicians keep on reminding us of those who’ve been kicked out for behaving very similarly to them.

Kak Wan and the other leaders in our government are supposed to be the pillars of strength of our nation. Their voice, advice and action have a great influence upon the people, for we often look up to them for hope and words of wisdom. And for this important reason, it is vital for the leaders like Kak Wan to make a sound judgement for their every move.

Yes, our parents play a very important role in our lives. And celebrating them, be it separately or together, shows how much we honour their sacrifices and commitments. However, we do not need our ministers to be meddling with such issues when there are many other crucial matters to be dealt with.

More important things

I have hereby taken the liberty to list down a few matters which Kak Wan, as the minister of Women, Family and Community Development can look into (perhaps when she is done merging Teacher’s Day and Labour Day).

• Look into implementing a National Sex Offenders Register. Enable every citizen to search for the latest information and location of convicted sex offenders.


• Formulate effective policies to curb child-dumping. Fact: More than 690 babies have been abandoned at birth in Malaysia between 2011 and 2017.


• Track down unregistered nurseries which employ untrained caregivers, thus contributing to child abuse and child neglect cases in the country.


• Review the 146 domestic violence cases which have occurred in the first six months of this year, including the 30 percent of cases involving male victims.


• Look into dealing with child alimony defaulters.


• Eliminate gender-based biases in employment.


•  Introduce oral contraceptive education to curb teen pregnancy.


•  Prevent underage marriage.


• Look into introducing a child-care policy for workplaces in order to ensure participation of women after marriage.


• Make education accessible for all children (including those without sufficient documents).

The Women, Family and Community Development ministry is a very important ministry simply because it focuses not only on women but also fathers, children, families and communities.

It is a ministry that is responsible for the well-being of everyone who makes up a society including the elderly, the disabled, the homeless and also refugees.

And Kak Wan, being a mother who brought up her children all by herself during her husband’s absence, having to lead her family and face some tough pressing issues alone, in my honest opinion may be the best person to lead the ministry – if and only if, she can stop coming up with these half-baked ideas and really puts her mind to it.

It is my utmost hope that Kak Wan will start looking at solid policies and assist Tun Mahathir to bring about the changes the people of Malaysia have been promised with.

Our jokes and our criticism may sound harsh, Kak Wan, but we are still hopeful.

In the words of lobbyist Rani Kulup, “Dongibab”, Kak Wan. You can do it!

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a growing media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a regular director, a struggling producer, a self-acclaimed photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. -Mkini