KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Barisan Women want more seats to be entrusted to them in the coming 13th general election, said Umno Sabah Women secretary Datuk Jainab Ahmad.
Jainab said yesterday the movement has discussed their request with the State Barisan Nasional (BN) leadership and a list of winnable Sabah BN women candidates has been forwarded to Kuala Lumpur.
“Wanita is asking for more women candidates to be fielded wherever suitable. There have been discussions within the State BN and (Sabah Umno and BN Wanita chief) Datuk Armani Mahiruddin has submitted a list of names for the Prime Minister’s consideration,” she said when contacted yesterday.
Jainab, who is also Assistant Resource Development and Information Technology Minister, however declined to reveal any name or how many were on the list.
She said the BN Women’s request for a bigger representation in the election was not merely aimed at strengthening the movement’s presence in the State’s political front, but was in line with the effort to promote a bigger role for women as a whole in developing the country.
She stressed that women recognized and appreciated the support and sincerity of the State and National BN leadership in empowering women, and the movement wanted to contribute more significantly towards this effort.
“Both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister have been very supportive towards women and we totally applaud the agenda to have women’s participation in the decision making increased to 30 per cent.
“We do not want it to be misconstrued that we women do not appreciate the role and contribution of men, we simply want to participate more and offer ourselves to develop the country together.
“We are not just talking about decision making in politics but also economy, education, social and every other aspects of our lives, and there is still a huge room for improvement. That is why we are thankful that our leadership has been very kind and supportive towards women development,” she said.
Jainab noted only five out of 60 current state legislative members and two out of 25 members of parliament from Sabah are women.
In general however, there has been a visible improvement in women’s participation in decision making, with more qualified and experience female are now holding important positions in both government and private sectors in Sabah.
According to her, roughly 10 percent of key positions in the government and private sectors are currently held by women.
“It is not that many yet but we are moving towards the right direction. More and more women are also participating and making their names in the business world, but there are still more to improve,” she said further.