SHAH ALAM: Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) leadership committee member Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud expressed her disappointment over the lack of women empowerment in the party.
The former Angkatan Wanita Amanah Negara (Awan) chief said gender sensitivity was not reflected at all levels and that there were no women representative to represent the party in some of the areas.
"There is no women representative in the top leadership position. The party lacks this and there is no gender sensitivity in it as a whole.
"We’ve been saying that we appreciate women; everyone knows that women play a vital role in many thing (fields), but when it comes to respect, women would always be an afterthought.
"My struggle since (being a member in) Pas until now has always been upholding women empowerment in any organisations or parties. The women always go door-to-door, house-to-house to do the work and get things done, and the men always become the security guards.
"There is no common sense there at all. Let me remind all Amanah members, before you say that you want to empower women out there, you need to fix the party first," she said in her winding-up speech at Amanah's fourth National Convention 2019 at Ideal Convention Centre here.
The Serdang assemblyman said she also disagreed with the leadership's decision to limit the number of members in the wing below 20 people in each area.
She said women played an important role in aggressively promoting the party in their respective areas and branches.
She also urged the party's top leadership not to offer "candies" to the rakyat all the time.
"We still have this old mind set where we have to always give (donations and assistance) to the people and someone told me that we have to give even more than Barisan Nasional (BN).
"The rakyat will have this habit of instant gratification and they will remain in their comfort zone without having to work.
"If we still carry this mind set, the people will not change especially for the Malays. Amanah should think long term on how to bring the people out of their comfort zone," the Selangor Exco said.
Dr Siti Mariah, who received a standing ovation at the end of her speech, also urged the party to focus on its non-Muslim members who had contributed to the party's success.