GE15: Climate change is something close to my heart - Siti Kasim
LILYANA RIZAL13 Nov 2022 09:43pm
“We must tell the politicians, don’t use religion as your rhetoric anymore." said activist and Independent candidate for the Batu parliamentary seat.
SENTUL – Siti Zabedah Kasim, better known as Siti Kasim, says climate change is one of the issues which she holds close to her heart.
Independent candidate for the Batu parliamentary seat, Siti Kasim stated that among the issues she is concerned with are human rights and climate change.
She told Sinar Daily, “Why do you think I am so passionate (about) helping the Orang Asli? Because it is connected to climate change!”
Today at noon, she conducted a walkabout at Varidelicious restaurant in Sentul, while sporting a traditional Orang Asli headdress as she interacted with Batu voters.
The activist said that there are so many issues in our nation and that there is a systemic problem present here.
She stressed however that in order to be able to deliver to the people, a candidate must prioritize issues that they believe are the most pressing and concern many.
For Siti Kasim, that issue is: “We must tell the politicians, don’t use religion as your rhetoric anymore.”
She expressed that we should not allow politicians to use religion in their rhetoric because they are using it for their own benefit, not for the people’s benefit.
That being said, one of her main manifestos in contesting as an independent candidate for the highly sought-after Batu parliamentary seat is to separate religion from the federation of Malaysia.
Siti Kasim is currently the chairperson of the Malaysian Bar Council’s Committee on Orang Asli Rights.
After living in the United Kingdom for 17 years, where she studied Law at the Queen Mary University of London and gave birth to her only daughter. She returned to Malaysia in 2004.
At the time, she had no knowledge of the issues that were faced by the indigenous people of the Malaysian peninsula.
However, in 2007, she joined the Malaysian Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee and found a passion in advocating for the human rights of the Orang Asli, alongside other pressing current issues such as non-Muslim rights.
