Angeline Umih
KUCHING: The women’s wing of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) will propose several names of women candidates for all six parliamentary seats (Lubok Antu, Sri Aman, Hulu Rajang, Julau, Selangau and Kanowit) allocated to the party.
This, they said, was meant to cast their net wider.
“We have agreed on this during our meeting on March 5 in Miri. However, we will leave it to party president to have the final say. We shall abide by whatever decisions he makes thereafter,” the Women’s wing vice president Angeline Umih said through a press statement received here on Thursday.
“We are certain that our president knows what is best for the party and we thank
him for his inclusiveness. We hope that the men-centric mindset in PRS will cease and that the party will not be easily swayed by hypocrites and people with malicious agendas.”
The wing was responding to an article published in The Borneo Post on May 17 entitled ‘Nyallau may give way to new face in Lubok Antu’ as well as his denial later.
Angeline said she agreed with Nyallau that persons hiding behind anonymity ‘speaks volumes for his/her characters’ and the sources were either ill-informed or had malicious intentions.
“It is obvious that the person(s) who said that if our women chief is to be fielded, there would be disgruntle within the party leadership, which are presumptuous and not rationale. Whoever the person is/are failed to see that there are also many elected representatives out there.
“As far as I know, our Women chief Dato Sri Doris Brodie has been in politics for about 24 years. She was a member of the Senate for six years from 2010. In July 2016, she was appointed a political secretary to the chief minister and still is.
“Doris is a no-nonsense leader who has led the wing through thick and thin with full dedication and commitment.
“Besides being loyal to our party struggle and leadership, she is our source of inspiration who continuously speaks and ‘fights’ for our Dayak women’s rights.
“We, PRS Women Wing, laud the move for her to be nominated a candidate for the next general election although she has
publicly said she has no plans to stand in the coming general election but would love to see other Dayak women fielded,” said Angeline.
She continued: “With regards to the above and in response to the call by our deputy president Datuk Joseph Entulu during the opening of our PRS Women Triennial Delegates’ Conference held in Bintulu in Dec 16, where he threw a challenge to us to identify the constituencies and women candidates they wish to put up in future elections, we (PRS Women Wing) are
compiling the names and will submit our list to the president soon,” said Angeline, who is also a political secretary to the chief minister.