Only 11.25% women.
Following her exclusion from BN’s 15th general election (GE15) candidate list, incumbent Kuala Kangsar MP Mastura Mohd Yazid has questioned the lack of women representation.
“The promise (was to) field 30 percent women (candidates). However, not a single Umno Wanita candidate has been included in the list for parliamentary seats in Perak and Negeri Sembilan,” she said last night as quoted by Berita Harian.
This was in reference to the pledge by BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier this month that in addition to fielding about 70 percent “new faces” for GE15, the coalition will also try to meet the demand that 30 percent of BN candidates are women.
Of the 160 BN candidates announced for GE15 last night, only 18 are women, which works out to only 11.25 percent.
Mastura, who is also a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions), was among the incumbent BN MPs dropped from the coalition’s line-up for GE15.
She will be replaced by Kuala Kangsar Umno chief Maslin Sham Razman, who is also the incumbent Bukit Chandan state assemblyperson.
According to Berita Harian, Mastura’s exclusion from the list could be due to her lukewarm relationship with the Kuala Kangsar Umno division.
The strained relationship between Mastura and Maslin was reportedly so apparent that almost all functions organised for locals in the constituency did not see both leaders appearing together.
In fact, Mastura also reportedly skipped the Kuala Kangsar Umno division’s GE15 machinery launch on May 22, which was attended by incumbent state menteri besar Saarani Mohamad, because Maslin was present.
The clash between the duo is believed to have started when Maslin, in his capacity as the Umno division chief, “reminded” Mastura in August last year to respect the party’s supreme council decision to stop supporting then prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin and the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.
While 12 Umno MPs withdrew support for Muhyiddin then, Mastura, who was appointed deputy minister by Muhyiddin, maintained silence on the matter.
The 61-year-old Mastura, who hails from Rembau, Negeri Sembilan, won the Kuala Kangsar parliamentary seat on June 18, 2016, following the death of her husband – incumbent MP Wan Mohammad Khair-il Anuar in a helicopter crash in Sebuyau, Sarawak on May 5 the same year.
She later retained the seat in the 2018 general election.
Maslin previously urged the Umno leadership to consider fielding “locals” for the parliamentary in GE15, reports said. – Malaysiakini