BATU PAHAT: The opposition strategy to field women candidates in Johor is merely a gimmick, surfacing only during the general election (GE) season, says Parit Sulong division’s Wanita UMNO chief, Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad.
The Barisan Nasional (BN), on the other hand, has long recognised the power of women as candidates, having fielded several of them to contest in the last GE, she said.
“We (BN) have since been pushing for 30 per cent women participation in politics. Even before they (the opposition) announced this, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak once announced that he would ensure the 30 per cent participation of women for senate posts.
“Hence, we are actually way ahead of the opposition in this sense. I believe Tan Sri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (Wanita UMNO chief) has met with the Prime Minister to discuss this in her capacity as Wanita BN chief,” she added.
Noraini was speaking to reporters after the presentation of contributions under the Happy to School (H2S) programme for schools in the Parit Sulong parliamentary constituency at the Sekolah Agama Sri Medan here today.
She had earlier, presented school uniforms and school supplies to 200 underprivileged children from 33 religious schools from the parliamentary constituency.
Noraini, who is also Parit Sulong MP, was commenting on a statement by Wanita PKR chief Zuraida Kamaruddin on Friday.
Zuraida was reported as saying that several women candidates from the party would contest in the coming GE and believed they could give BN a run for the money. - Bernama