Citizenship debate: Wanita Amanah tells reps don't degrade women

 

Mazenah Baharuddin, the head of the Masjid Tanah, Malacca division of Wanita Amanah, today warned party members not to degrade women.

“The gender gap is very strong in Malaysia. When tears are associated with women, when weakness is associated with women, when emotions are associated with women. Do men have no emotions or weaknesses?

“Please don't associate women with weakness. And I beg everyone in this council not to use words that degrade the dignity of women,” she said.

She was speaking to delegates during the 2022 Amanah Convention held at Hotel Klana Resort, in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

Mazenah’s (above) remarks came after a minor commotion arose during a debate by Selayang delegate Wan Anwar Wan Ibrahim earlier.

He said he will not give 100 percent support to the motion regarding guaranteeing equal rights for Malaysian mothers to grant citizenship to children born abroad, a right currently enjoyed by Malaysian fathers.

Wan Anwar in the debate said he did not support the motion as a whole but conditionally and one of his arguments touched on social and economic aspects which caused the speaker to interrupt his argument several times.

“We cannot block any member of Awan who wants to marry, who wants to fall in love with non-citizens, who are rampant, who are usually (from) Bangladesh, Pakistan.

“You can't control feelings, but you can control the birth of the child,” he said, before being interrupted by the speaker who asked whether he supported the motion or not.

Economic reasons for birthplace

Wan Anwar then denied not supporting the motion and continued his argument by stating there are women citizens who choose to give birth to their children abroad due to economic factors.

He went on to cite the decision of Malaysian-born surgeon Dr Amalina Che Bakri, who lives and works in the United Kingdom, to give birth to her child there.

Amanah’s Selayang delegate Wan Anwar Wan Ibrahim

“We have to look at the issue of our Malaysian citizens who marry foreigners but choose to give birth in that country because the country's economic level is believed by them to be suitable for raising their children there.

“For example, Dr Amalina herself, her son is in the UK because she herself is not confident about the state of our country’s economy,” he said, although the speaker then interrupted by saying that it was an isolated case.

“The UK is seen as a country that can raise its children but in Malaysia, we are facing economic problems. They are not confident in Malaysia because the economic level has been bad since the Perikatan Nasional and BN rule,” he said.

According to him, he thinks the motion should be supported only if it gets approval from the Council of Rulers. - Mkini