SHAH ALAM – Experts point out the irony of the Pas election director’s comment against women parliamentary representatives while also fielding two women to contest for parliamentary seats in the 15th General Election (GE15).
Recently, a viral TikTok video showed Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor, also the Kedah Menteri Besar, who allegedly made a few comments about women’s abilities to represent the people during his campaign for the Pas candidate of the Sik constituency.
Despite this, in GE15, Pas was confirmed to field two women parliamentary candidates in Kelantan, namely Datuk Mumtaz Md Nawi for the Tumpat seat and Datuk Siti Zailah Mohd Yusoff for the Rantau Panjang seat.
Pantau PRU15 committee member Professor Datuk Dr Harlina Haliza Siraj said that the Pas leader had belittled his own party’s candidates which should be a reality check for them.
"It should send a very clear message to the women of Pas that that is actually how their party's leadership sees them.
"Maybe just as foot soldiers, canvassing for the election but never to be put in a strategic position, never even seriously wanted them to be in the Parliament,” she said.
Dr Harline said that Sanusi statement confirmed the engrained attitude that some Malaysians might have towards women’s ability to participate in their community.
"It’s the gender issue. You might have all the other prerequisites of an excellent leader but because you’re a woman, so you (are not fit to become one),” she said.
Dr Harlina, who was also a specialist by profession, shared that when she was a consultant, she would have to wake up at 3am because her doctors had difficulties and that was what she did when duties called.
"Just start your engine and go to the hospital. So, (women) can be the MPs if we wanted to or even the Tok Penghulu for that matter.”
In this particular matter, Dr Harlina said Pakatan Harapan (PH) seemed to be more open, accepting and respectful towards women’s participation.
She said this in reference to the fact that PH had fielded the most women candidates in GE15, 39 out of their total 205 candidates.
Meanwhile, All Women’s Action Society (Awam) programme manager Lilian Kok said it was crucial to note that systemic barriers perpetuated low political participation and representation in Malaysia.
She said this includes the lack of internal support systems in political parties and pervasive public distrust towards the capabilities of women political leaders due to sexism and gender stereotyping.
"In the 14th General Election (GE14), despite these barriers, there was a gender gap in electability at the federal level, whereby women candidates performed better than their male counterparts.
"Therefore, this proves that the statement made by Sanusi is not reflected in society and to state that women are not able to perform their constituency duties at any given time of the day is not only unwarranted, unfounded and ludicrous, but also irresponsible in light of his prominent role as a Menteri Besar and also within the political party,” she said.
Kok also highlighted that his statement could already be disproved by Permatang Pauh candidate Nurul Izzah Anwar’s efforts on November 11, when she went for a visit at Seberang Perai due to the flood issues which affected over 200 houses.
"In an interview with reporters, Nurul Izzah also provided solutions for long-term management of the flood, while in retrospect, Sanusi did not demonstrate the same level of competence, via his statement for the constituents in Baling to ‘accept fate with an open heart and be grateful’ during the devastating floods there.
"We implore Sanusi and any Malaysians who share his mindset (to realise) that this is not about the battle of the sexes, but rather about allowing women to fill the roles that men are not able to fulfil,” she said.
She added that Sanusi needed to understand that more than half of Malaysian voters were women, especially after the lowering of the voting age, which would substantially shape the future of the country and its political landscape.