international islamic university malaysia department of

An Analysis of Women Political Empowerment in Malaysia

Dr Rabi’ah AminudinDepartment of Political Science,

International Islamic University MalaysiaWomen's Participation in Elections in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic: Indonesia and Malaysia Perspectives

05th December 2020

BAGIAN HUKUM TATA NEGARA, FAKULTAS HUKUM UNIVERSITAS JEMBER, INDONESIA

● Introduction● The level of Malaysian women

political empowerment● Analysis of GE 14 (2018)● Factors● Current political situation● Moving forward

INTRODUCTION● Women is politically under represented in the world despite being half of the

world’s population at 49.5% in 2018 (World Bank, 2019)● Globally, there is only 24% female representatives in legislature and meagre 18%

female in ministerial positions. ● A number of studies have been done on female political representation but only

focus on the implementation of gender quota as found in Krook (2009), Verge & Fuente (2013), Meier & Lombardo (2013), Krook & Zetterberg (2014), Clayton (2015), Akbar (2018), Verge (2018).

● Study by Lovenduski (2011) identifies the importance of political party in studying female political representation. Therefore, the current literature is not sufficient in exploring the role of political parties as agent of power that also hold the key to improve female political representation and participation.

● This presentation aims to provide an overall picture on Malaysian women’s political participation

Background● Parliamentary democracy-Fusion of power between executive and legislature-

executive authority (PM and cabinet ministers are derived from legislature- Parliament)

● Prime Minister is often the leader of the political party that win the majority in the lower house (Dewan Rakyat) *Upper House- Dewan Negara

● General elections are held every 5 years (maximum) to elect Members of Parliament of the Dewan Rakyat (federal) and state legislative assembly (state)

● The last GE is in 2018 which sees the collapse of Barisan Nasional, the political coalition that has ruled since Malaysia’s independence in 1961

● Electoral system- First Past the Post (FPP)- FEDERAL-222 parliament seats , states legislative assembly-total 587 (13 states- Sabah, Sarawak, Perlis, Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Negri 9, Melaka, Johor, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan)

Women and Politics in Malaysia

● Political empowerment still remains the dimension with the largest gap in ASEAN including

Malaysia- 25%

● The Global Gap Index 2020 ranked Malaysia 104th out of 153 countries, which further slips

from the 70th out of 144 countries in 2017.

● In the domain of political empowerment, Malaysia is ranked at 117 out of 153 countries in

2020 compared to 90 out of 114 countries in 2006- fared better than Thailand, Myanmar and

Cambodia in ASEAN.

● Although women makes up 49% of Malaysia’s total population, there are only around 11% of

women in the legislature. This reflects low level of women participation as policy makers.

Three major political coalitions in the 14th GE (2018)● ● Barisan Nasional (UMNO, MIC, MCA, GERAKAN, PBB etc)

● GAGASAN Sejahtera (PAS, Parti Ikatan Bangsa Malaysia)

● Pakatan Harapan (DAP, PKR, AMANAH, BERSATU)

GENDER AGENDAS IN GE 14TH MANIFESTOES

• Gender Agenda : 25

• Total Pledge : 341

• % of female agenda : 7.3







FEMALE CANDIDACY GE 13TH 2013 STATE BN PR

PARLIAMENT STATE ASSEMBLY


PERLIS - 3 - 1KEDAH 1 6 1 2

PULAU PINANG - 3 1 6PERAK 1 6 4 6

KELANTAN - 2 1 3TERENGGANU - - - 1

PAHANG - 3 3 3SELANGOR 4 4 2 12

WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN,

PUTRAJAYA, LABUAN

2 NOTAVAILABLE

2 NOTAVAILABLE

MELAKA 1 2 - 3NEGERI SEMBILAN - 5 2 3

JOHOR 4 7 2 8SABAH 4 4 2 4

Total 17 45 20 52

14th General Election 2018 Female Candidates

STATEBN PH GAGASAN




PERLIS - 4 - 4 - -KEDAH 1 4 1 2 1 4PULAU PINANG

2 4 2 5 1 1

PERAK 3 7 - 7 2 3KELANTAN - 5 - 3 2 2

TERENGGANU - 2 - 2 - -PAHANG 1 4 1 7 - 2

SELANGOR - 7 4 12 2 7WILAYAH

PERSEKUTUAN, PUTRAJAYA,

LABUAN3 NA 4 NA 0 NA

MELAKA 1 2 1 3 - 1NEGERI

SEMBILAN- 3 - 2 - 2

JOHOR 4 7 7 7 1 4SABAH 4 6 6 7 1TOTAL 19 55 26 61 9 27

TOTAL: 27/222 (Parliament) 12% 63/ 518 (State Assemblies excluding Sarawak) 12%

Malaysia’s Cabinet 2018In average, women occupied only 18% (9/50) of of ministerial portfolios, a far cry from the promised 30% in the Pakatan Harapan’s manifestoes

MPs names Constituency Political Coalition

Noriah Kasnon Sungai Besar (Selangor) BN (Government)

Mas Ermieyati Samsudin Masjid Tanah (Melaka)

Noraini Ahmad Parit Sulong (Johor)

Halimah Sadique Tenggara (Johor)

Normala Abdul Samad Pasir Gudang (Johor)

Azalina Othman Pengerang (Johor)

Rosnah Shirlin Papar (Sabah)

Azizah Dun Beaufort (Sabah)

Tsen Theu Lin Batu Sapi (Sabah)

Mary Yap Tawau (Sabah)

Siti Zailah Yusoff Rantau Panjang (Kelantan) PR (Opposition)

Fuziah Salleh Kuantan (Pahang)

Kasturiaraani Patto Batu Kawan (Penang)

Zuraida Kamaruddin Ampang (Selangor)

Siti Mariah Mahmud Kota Raja (Selangor)

Teresa Kok Seputeh (KL)

Nurul Izzah Anwar Lembah Pantai (KL)

Factors that hinders women involvement in politicsPolitical institution

● Inconducive political environment● Lack of political will of political parties● Patronage system ● Existence of warlords on the ground● First Past the Post (FPP)● The existence of women wing● Ethnic politics

Personal

● Family support (husbands, parents)● Family duties (as mothers, wives)● Access to resources (financial, network,

manpower)● Lack of exposure

Current political situations● After 22 months, the government that won the 14th GE collapsed due to

internal political turmoil● Muhyiddin Yassin was announced as Malaysia’s 8th Prime Minister- 1st

March 2020 ● Form government by allying with UMNO and PAS● No absolute majority- fickle minded politicians change alliances by minutes● Disruption in existing political coalition- reshuffling of cabinet- women once

again being put aside. ● Sabah State Election- 26th September 2020 (resulted in the spike of

COVID-19 cases in Malaysia)● SoP was not followed by politicians and public alike

Cabinet 2020● Additional 15 portfolios in comparison to

2018● Female representation is reduced to

almost 9% ● Additional portfolios were given as

rewards to political parties that showed support towards Muhyiddin Yassin’s premiership

Government’s campaigns during COVID

How can Malaysia moves forward?1. Political parties play important role to push women in politics- need to have

structures that put women in political parties’ leadership position2. Political institution need to have clear rules and regulations to ensure friendly

political environment for women and men alike3. The creation of Malaysian identity- civic nationalism- allow other political

identities to be given due attention by the state4. Education and training-change of mindset for younger generation

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