PUTRAJAYA: History was made at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday when for the first time ever, it was chaired by a woman.
The woman in question was none other than Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who chaired the Cabinet meeting held at the Perdana Putra building.
Dr Wan Azizah shared the historic moment via her Twitter account, @drwanazizah.
In her tweet, she wrote: “History is made, for the first time in Malaysian history, a woman is chairing the Cabinet.”
The tweet was accompanied by the hashtag #WomenPower, which garnered 2,484 ‘likes’ as of 4pm.
Dr Wan Azizah also shared a photo of her with the Cabinet ministers who attended the meeting. Among those present were Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin; Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng; Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik; Rural Development Minister Rina Harun; and Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Bakar
Dr Wan Azizah chaired the meeting in the absence of Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is now in New York to attend the 73rd United Nations General Assembly.
Dr Mahathir arrived in New York on Tuesday and is expected to address the assembly on Sept 28.
The Pakatan Harapan government had appointed various female business and corporate personalities to head various government-linked companies.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister’s Office had announced the appointement of Dr Hasnita Hashim as the new MARA chairman.
Other key female personalities include Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) Governor Datuk Nor Shamsiah Mohd Yunus; former BNM governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who is now Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB) chairman; Datuk Hazimah Zainuddin who is Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd (PUNB) chairman, and Nik Amlizan Mohamed, who is Armed Forces Superannuation Fund (LTAT) chief executive officer.